by Richard Ashley, President of the Enrollment Managment Innovations

Getting more student applicants to become student starts begins by enrolling them correctly in the first place. I have noticed that the actual career college students that start and sit in class (start/sit rate), from those that applied is significantly lower than it has ever been at many schools. While you follow scripts, techniques, procedures, policies and regulations, many times we forget the needs of the student in the enrollment process. Long before I began Student Recruiting, "Career Colleges" were set up as an alternative to Universities. Thousands of students were looking for, and needed, hands-on and employment focused training. That's right; short term, skilled training to get a job they would enjoy, with the possibility of building their foundation for a career. Many schools may have lost the "Career College" roots in their admissions, interviewing, qualification and application process.

If you think you might have lost some of that "student centered-student benefits" approach, even a little, let's see if we can rekindle some of that " Ole Career College Passion." First, if our students could just take a "pill" and get the training and skills without having to sit in class, do labs, take tests, read thousands of pages and be placed in a competitive peer setting, I firmly believe 90% of them would give you $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 or more for the "Quick Career College Fix"...THEY WOULD! So what's my point?

If students tell you:

> "I want to make more money"
> "I want a job I can enjoy"
> "I want career opportunities"
> "I want to take care of my family"
> "I want to be the first to get a degree"
> "I want to own a home/new car"
> "I want my kids to be proud of me"
> "I want to take vacations"
> "I want to be able to pay my bills ON TIME"



...and so on; then please spend time in the interview process letting them "sell their future" to you.

If you want motivated students from the point of the first interview to the point of graduation, then you may need to make sure EVERY staff member in EVERY department understands the tangible wants and needs of your students, and how the benefits of completing this training with assist them in satisfying some of those needs.

Let the student sell themselves the tangible benefits of graduation and employment during the Enrollment and Matriculation Process. Get them to elaborate and be specific as to what they see as both the tangible and intangible benefits of completing their education. Those are the dreams and expectations a student can hold onto while they are being trained, and those goals can be easily reinforced all the way through the student's education; especially if graduates are asked to come back to visit your classrooms and tell their success stories or a lot of your advertising is geared on graduate testimonials and successes. ITT promotes those success stories much better then most, especially during the recent graduate testimonial reunion campaign they are running this summer.

I think you are getting the picture your students will take of their own future, so them take it, make it and frame it during your initial admissions interview with the student. Detailed questionnaires, admissions pre-test, department head interviews and all the other procedures can follow, once you have a motivated prospective student applicant. I will end this with some specific wants and needs that students express to recruitment staff that worked with me over the years.

I figured I would close with that one...TRUE STORY!! When asked why a 4.5 carat diamond ring specifically, the student quickly responded, "Because my mother has a 3.5 carat diamond ring!" My point is never prejudge what motivates a prospective student until you hear it from their own lips in their own words....THEN LET THEM BUILD THEIR FUTURE AS THEY SEE IT.