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College Recruiting Generates A Mountain Of Paper Even In The Digital Age

Denise Dowling
Erin Johnson, senior at Sentinel High School in Missoula.

College-bound high school seniors are hearing back from their chosen schools this week and they’re finding out which universities want them and how much they’re willing to offer in scholarships and financial aid.

Schools spend an enormous amount of money on recruiting. A national poll of admissions officers put the price tag at $457 per student at four-year, public schools. With nearly two million US high school graduates headed for college, that adds up to a whopping $900 million spent on staff, travel, supplies and publications.

My daughter Erin is one of those seniors the colleges are targeting.

Around a year ago, I started saving the postcards, letters and brochures she got from colleges, thinking she might consult them later as she was narrowing her choice.

It’s a mountain of paper. Nearly 500 pieces of mail. And even though application deadlines have come and gone, the paper is still coming.

But Erin says these glossy packets, the clever post cards, the austere and academic letters on fine stationery didn’t make one bit of difference.

"That’s a lot of paper, a lot of trees died to have zero impact on my college choice," Erin said. 

Erin didn’t wait for colleges to come to her. She used online tools to narrow her search based on her area of academic interest, the school’s size, demographics and location. Then she headed straight to prospective schools’ websites.

"There’s no bigger turnoff than a college website you can’t find your way around…. At all," Erin said. "[It] shows they’re, you know, a little out of date."

Assistant Vice President of Marketing at the University of Montana, Mario Schulzke says the old ways of reaching prospective students, like printed materials and television ads, just don’t work.

"I don’t even think they’re watching ads any more. By the time the ad comes on, they’re pressing mute, they’re jumping on their iPhones, they’re texting friends," Schulzke said.  "They’re just not paying attention to that stuff anymore and even if they are paying attention, I don’t think they’re easily gonna fall for a commercial message."

Schulzke’s priorities when he arrived at UM two years ago were to sharpen up the brand, clean up the web site, increase the university’s online and social media presence and create a mobile strategy.

"More than half of our web traffic comes from mobile devices. And we had a logo before that didn’t work with a mobile device, it was too pixelated," Schulzke said. 

Schulzke says UM tries to find the online places prospective students are visiting and works to target them there.

"I do believe they’re listening to Pandora or watching content on YouTube or they’re on the various social media channels, that we have a presence there." Schulzke said. 

With the U.S. high school population shrinking, the competition for students will become even more fierce in the years ahead. And while college recruiting budgets are shifting more toward digital, the paper won’t go away.

"Parents respond to the print materials," Vice President for Admissions for Student Success at UM, Sharon O'Hare, said. 

O’Hare says parents play a heightened role in a student’s decision, much more so than even ten years ago.

"They’re their number one, go-to consultant in terms of what should I do? What should I major in? What kind of school do you think will work for me?" O'Hare said. 

O’Hare says printed materials are still effective with the key decision makers, the parents. So, parents of high school juniors, beware, an avalanche of paper is headed your way. At our house, 23 pounds worth. A lot of trees.

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