What’s going on in enrollment these days? Those of us that work in and around the business of enrolling non-traditional students have started to notice some trends that just don’t make sense. More and more schools have entered the online and non traditional student education space, and the competition for the same students has become increasingly fierce. This competition has led to strong arm recruiting tactics, dishonesty through omission, outright lying and artificially manufactured urgency. Sadly the ones who suffer are the people who are earnestly looking for an educational solution.

Too many institutions have lost sight of the fact that if you take care of you take care of your students, the students will take care of your institution. It boils down to simple math. If the average cost per acquisition is between $1,000 and $2,000 and a first course costs anywhere from $500-2000, then most institutions will not realize any tuition revenue until the second and sometimes even the third course. If you are forcing students in to class, don’t be surprised to see them drop out of class.

The one common theme among students that persist in class is this, they are comfortable with the decision that they are making. The choice to go to school boils down to a student deciding to get over his or her fears about finding the time, paying for school and most importantly the fear of failure. No amount of arm twisting is going to change these fears. The admissions rep can only usher the prospective student to a place where he or she can make the decision on their own. When a student drops because they didn’t have the right expectations, the admissions rep is 100% to blame. The golden rule applies to enrollment as well, take care of you students and they will take care of your institution.