Jaw-dropping stats from college student survey

COLLEGES COULD LOSE UPWARDS OF 20% OF THEIR STUDENTS THIS FALL: A recent survey of 2000 college-bound and current college students by SimpsonScarborough highlighted some eye-popping stats: 

• 10% of respondents who had planned to enroll at a four-year college before the COVID-19 outbreak have already made alternative plans.
• 26% of respondents said they were unlikely to return to their current college or university in the fall, or it was "too soon to tell.”
• 3% of freshmen will take a gap year.
• 85% of respondents want to go back to campus to finish their degree, but 15% want to finish online.

Why you should care: Inside Higher Ed claims these survey results “are sending a message to colleges and to policy makers that this crisis might put college out of reach for a large number of students.” Now is the time to be re-engaging enrolled and accepted students in order to provide information about your program and help them weigh their options. For some, starting college closer to home for a year or two might be the best decision. But even these individuals may still intend to finish their degree program at your institution, so don't stop engaging with them if they don't enroll with you this fall.

LINKEDIN STORIES LAUNCHES IN BRAZIL: In a previous edition, we mentioned stories were coming to LinkedIn. From what we can tell by the early launch in Brazil, LinkedIn Stories look similar to other social media platforms’ stories. Only available on mobile devices, stories can run for up to 20 seconds and last on the member's page for 24 hours. Members can share these directly with other LinkedIn members and users can share other members’ stories over LinkedIn messages. Members can even message the story’s creator directly through the story, just like Instagram.

Why you should care: Staying up on LinkedIn Stories means you and your school can be an early adopter of this new feature. Start thinking about ways to repurpose educational content for LinkedIn Stories in order to engage prospective students by showcasing student life, virtual classroom environments, research, and even highlighting alumni stories. Keep in mind the opportunity to reach highly-targeted professional audiences on this platform.  

THE STATE OF DISPLAY ADVERTISING AFTER APIRL EARNINGS CALLS: U.S. advertisers dramatically cut back on ad spend in March. At the same time, the public spent more time online. This huge shift in ad supply and demand resulted in a major decline in CPM (cost per million impressions). In just one week back in late March, CPM on display networks decreased by 13.3% on mobile and 24.1% on desktop. Direct-response advertisers, whose goal conversion is “digital” in nature (online form submission, app installations, game downloads), saw the biggest decline in CPM.

Why you should care: A lower supply of ads indicates less competition and cheaper ad costs across display platforms. And with direct-response advertisers showing the best results, consider promoting your top digital conversion points, including guide downloads, inquiry form submissions, and even university-related apps on display networks like Google.

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