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

2. 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
550 graduate students

3. 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

4. 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?

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

6. 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 s, 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.

7. 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

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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 s, don’t complete pre-arrival forms, and those that don’t pay the tuition deposit.

12. 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

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

14. 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

15. 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

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

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

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

20. 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)

22. 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

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

24. Pivot Tables Rule!!!

25. Questions?