Earlier this week, I had a conversation with my brother who is a high school senior.
Nick, who is a smart, motivated, young man, informed me that he had finally made his college decision — he'll be attending ASU Online this fall courtesy of Starbucks (if you're not familiar with the Starbucks/ASU's college achievement plan, check it out here).
It wasn't his first choice, nor his second — in fact, he was accepted at several great institutions. But, after a cost-benefit analysis, he figured, "If I'm going to be have to take courses online anyway, why not take them online for free?"
Makes sense to me.
And, as it turns out, Nick's story is not a unique one. Carnegie Dartlet reported a couple of weeks ago that 33% of students plan to defer or cancel their fall semester if their schools move fully online.
Okay, so, how does this story relate to today's episode of FRIdeas?
At the risk of stating the obvious, I believe this season, this summer in particular, is the moment enrollment marketers have been waiting for.
Baseline metrics have been upended, on-campus visits are no more, and grad fairs? You can forget it.
And while this might be scary, it's a chance to think outside the box. To get your team together and explore a plethora of "What If's."
Now is the time to test out that campaign that seemed unconventional, or that tactic that seemed too risky. Don't just take your same old recruitment plan and try to make it work virtually...it's time to reimagine the entire playbook.
My hope is that the simple ideas shared here will get your creative juices flowing!