Leveraging Your CRM via Pre- orientation Activities to Impact Yield and Retention

University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration Presenter: Laura Hardy, Assistant Dean of Students, Director of Admissions University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration SSA At-A-Glance Chicago, IL Private, R1 research university 14 Divisions Slate school - 2012 550 graduate students

Why is this important? Reducing summer melt Orientation/Pre-Orientation Reducing attrition Limited funds Limited on-campus meeting space Connecting with admits near and far

Summer Melt Questions you should answer to inform your strategy: What is your summer melt %? Do you have a general sense of why your admits melt? Do you have 2-3 profiles of admits who are more likely to melt? (international students, late applicants/admits, waitlist/admits, etc) Is there a particular month(s) where you see higher melt?

Data + Analysis = Answers! What do you want to know? Melt Rate Timing of Attrition Yield Rate Geo-markets Sub-populations

My Answers What is your summer melt %? - 9% Do you have a general sense of why your admits melt? - Ability to pay/high tuition cost, accepted multiple offers, housing issues, personal reasons Do you have 2-3 profiles of admits who are more likely to melt? - late admits, admits with low rankings who received less than average scholarship awards. Early indicators are folks who don’t open emails, don’t complete pre-arrival forms, and those that don’t pay the tuition deposit. Is there a particular month(s) where you see higher melt? - we usually see a bump in late April and then another in July.

2. Do you have a general sense of why your admits melt 2. Do you have a general sense of why your admits melt? - Ability to pay/high tuition cost, accepted multiple offers, housing issues, personal reasons

Case Study: Housing Limited space in University-owned spaces; often at capacity by March Off-campus options challenging to find at a distance No Housing = Less Likely to Enroll Particularly for international students and out of state students who were unable to visit and/or have never been to Chicago before. Decided it was best to roll this out centrally because most units were struggling with the same issues. Why spend all the time and energy (little money) into this project with little support.

Case Study: Housing Year 1: 2 webinars for ~300 students; 96% of students noted it was helpful Year 2: 8 webinars for ~300 students Year 3: 7 webinars for ~600 students Year 1 and 2 we offered the webinar only to admit/attends. The first year, it was offered late, June/July. But Year 2 we bumped up the start of the webinars to April. Again only to admit/attends. This year we started as early as first week of March and invited all admits and admit/attends to join the webinar. Our participated doubled.

Case Study: Housing Takeaways: Secure support from all relevant offices Buy the license for Screen-Cast-O-Matic Don’t be shy with key messaging Use the chats to spur more conversation

3. Do you have 2-3 profiles of admits who are more likely to melt 3. Do you have 2-3 profiles of admits who are more likely to melt? - late admits, admits with low rankings who received less than average scholarship awards. Early indicators are folks who don’t open emails, don’t complete pre-arrival forms, and those that don’t pay the tuition deposit.

Case Study: Insurance Deadline moved up to start of quarter Reliable confusion for students managing US insurance for the first time No space or time for in-person sessions

Case Study: Insurance Year 1: 5 webinars for ~550 students Year 2: TBD Change in policy back to start date Same goals of education

How to Do This, Take 1 Build your presentation Record a presentation with voiceover using a screencapture software (e.g.Screencast-O-Matic) External microphone 15 minute maximum Note firewalls

How to Do This, Take 2 Upload to Vimeo Staffing the chat Why no talking head? Centralized communication strategy & assessment Schedule with your audience in mind Include early assessment in RSVP Include key staff members on chat Have an IT expert on hand or nearby

Assessment Change in education level Overall satisfaction with information Chat logs Instant FAQ Content support websites

Future Webinars Financial aid Divisional/Department Information sessions Pre-Orientation: Library 101, Student Support Services, other Tutorials

Queries & Reports: Using your data The opportunities are endless... Event data Feeder school data (PIA) Admit/Decline data Communication strategy

Event Tool Questions you can answer by querying your events: How many inquiries/applications/admits/attends did that event generate? What is the time commitment required to see pay-off? Any other trends you can identify with certain events? (are students who visit campus more likely at enroll than students who don’t)

Undergraduate PIA Questions you can answer using PIA: Feeder schools - schools you expect and schools that surprise you? Special populations. Do you see trends in where your URM students are coming from? Are there schools you expect to receive apps from but you aren’t? Regional schools/peer institutions

What do you want to know? Sub-pops App completion rate Yield Rate Geo-markets Majors

Pivot Tables Rule!!!

Questions?