Anyone who’s ever worked in higher ed knows just how important campus visits are.
For traditional undergraduate student recruitment, there’s often nothing more impactful than stepping foot on a campus and imagining what the next four years could be like, should you choose to enroll.
But since the COVID-19 pandemic, something strange has been happening with campus visits…
Covid and the Campus Tour
In response to the pandemic, colleges across the country closed their doors to prospective student visitors in the spring of 2020. While durations varied, many institutions continued to limit campus tours well into 2021.
The result was that for more than one full recruitment cycle, the once heralded campus tour suddenly was absent from prospective students’ decision-making process.
When campuses opened back up, there was a general belief that campus visit volume would recover, but that doesn’t appear to have been the case.
Post-Pandemic Performance
Post pandemic, overall new student enrollment volume has recovered, but oddly enough campus visit volume has not.
As reported by Eduventures’ most-recent Student Sentiment Research, while 82% of high school sophomores and juniors say they plan to visit campus before they apply, only 48% of seniors actually have.
The below chart highlights just how much the value of a campus visit has dropped among prospective students, when comparing data from 2019 to 2023.
Beyond just the decline in overall interest, what prospective students expect from a campus tour vs. what they can find online has shifted as well.
Students coming to campus are looking to get a feel for the overall student experience, including physical buildings, campus location, and general community fit.
On the flip side, students are increasingly looking to online resources - including both your website, but also online event experiences - to inform them about things like admission information, financial aid, etc.
And keep in mind, this decline in campus visits is happening at the same time that prospective students are applying to more institutions than ever, leading to many colleges and universities touting record application volume.
But without a campus visit, are your admits really ready to convert?
For many colleges and universities, year-over-year declines in admit to enroll rates would say “no.”
So What is a College To Do?
First and foremost, colleges and universities need to revisit their visit marketing strategy. It’s no longer enough to just mail and email invitations to purchased lists.
At Kanahoma, we’re seeing partners find success deploying digital marketing campaigns targeting prospective high school students. Rather than driving to a traditional RFI (Request for Information) or Application form, these campaigns are designed to drive campus visits. In one case, we’re able to drive incremental visits at just $79 a pop.
In addition, many institutions are testing out campus visit scholarship offers, incentivizing student visits by providing scholarships ranging from less than $500 to north of $8,000.
Finally, it’s never been more important to embrace the reality that many prospective students are looking for more substantive information online. From an improved website experience to engaging online open houses, investing in a thoughtful and effective online event and experience strategy is paramount if you want to increase yield and convert.
So Did Covid Really Kill The Campus Tour?
According to the data, sort of…
For many prospective students it’s obviously still a critical component of the decision-making process. But it doesn’t appear to be the panacea it once was.
So before you get too excited about that increased application volume year-over-year, do yourself a favor and take a deep dive into your visit volume first, because…
If you’re soft with senior visit volume this spring, you may just be soft with new student enrollment this fall.
About The Author
Seth is the founder and CEO of Kanahoma, a San Diego-based performance marketing agency on a mission to build a better agency for organizations building a better world.
You can learn more about who we are and what we do at www.Kanahoma.com.