Colleges Must Communicate Effectively With Prospective Students Online During Coronavirus


Tuesday, May 5, 2020

The switch to Online College. During this period of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic that continues to affect every day life in the US, colleges and universities need to pay special attention to their prospective college students.



Colleges and universities have transitioned away from traditional on-campus classes to online classes and online learning. This switch to online college has left many parents and current college students feeling quite ambivalent as some claim that the current online learning environment does not meet their own standards of a high quality education. These feelings of disappointment towards online learning could potentially pose threats to college enrollment.

Now what about high school seniors who are prospective college students?

Why should colleges and universities pay special attention to their prospective college students before the semester even begins?


A recent survey conducted by SimpsonScarborough, a higher education research, marketing, and branding agency, that examined the opinions of 573 high school seniors reveals what high school seniors are planning for their futures.

According to this survey, at least 89% of high school seniors are determined and set on attending a traditional 4-year college/university in the upcoming Fall 2020 semester or quarter.

24% of these high school seniors say they may still change their mind about the college they want to attend as a result of COVID-19.

Here’s the real kicker: 40% of the high school seniors who have already decided on a school for Fall 2020 say they are not receiving adequate information about how COVID-19 affects their enrollment.

What does this imply?
All top colleges and universities need to pay attention to their prospective students and communicate effectively with them. Effective communication with prospective students is necessary to ease their doubts about the upcoming semester. High school students have already had to adjust to online learning while respecting Stay At Home orders. It is safe to assume that these high school students, that will soon be college students, want to know what the following academic year is going to look like for them.

Current college parents and students already express concern about the upcoming year.

It is important to note that parents and students who attend traditional four-year institutions that were not primarily online colleges before coronavirus have expressed these concerns.

Online colleges or universities that already have a strong online college presence such as Purdue Global, the University of Iowa Online and Drake University Online have not had to make many changes to their infrastructure in order to adapt to the current COVID-19 situation. These online colleges, unlike other universities, have been ready for what this year has brought in terms of how online education is delivered to its online students through online degree programs.

What do colleges and universities, who were traditionally online learning institutions and who may be worried about their fall enrollment, need to do during this time?

Colleges and universities must understand that prospective students do not have the same level of connection or sense of belonging to the institution compared with current students.

In a normal situation, prospective students usually say that they receive way too much communication from their potential colleges and universities. It is quite rare to hear from prospective students that they need more information than they are currently getting.

What’s the bottom line? High school seniors need special attention and many feel they are not getting the attention they need.

If colleges and universities want to seal the deal for their upcoming freshmen classes, they will need to up their game and communicate more effectively with prospective students.

It is true that many colleges and universities are still uncertain about what the start of the following academic year looks like. Prospective students are just as aware of the uncertainty of the times ahead. Rather than making grand promises, colleges and universities can at least assure their prospective students that they will be doing their best to provide the quality education that these students have signed up for, whether it be online or in-person.




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