Combatting the Summer Melt
High school graduation is exciting, but the summer after can be overwhelming as there’s a lot of preparation to do for college. This can cause students to run for the hills and forfeit the follow through on enrollment completion. This phenomenon is called the summer melt, and it can take a toll on college admission rates.
Collectively, several studies found, the best ways for colleges to combat the summer melt are to either have high schools and colleges “stay late and start early,” which means high school and college counselor’s work over the summer, or to implement a text messaging service. The texting service is what seems to be the less expensive and most efficient option.
Resources
High school students have resources accessible through counselors and parents to get the college process started. Once high school is over, they may no longer be available. In fact, some students don’t even have their parents around to help due to odd working hours. Reports show that 34% of lower socioeconomic students are affected by this and in total, these students represent 1/3 of the enrollees, proving why the summer melt can hurt.
Preferred Communication
Historically, communication would usually be through snail mail or email, but we must think about the generation we are in and ask ourselves, what do teens constantly have an interest in? Their cell phones, and according to Apple, the average person checks their phone about 80 times per day. It’s also said that a person generally answers a text within two minutes, versus an email within 48 hours.
The texting option offers the students reminders of due dates for enrollment paperwork, they can ask questions at any hour and get a response, get notifications of important updates, and more. Plus, 75% of millennials say they prefer texting over other methods, so when this one was tested, 90% of students opted in for the service. This allows for students to stay engaged and in ways that they’re most comfortable with.
Low-cost, Low Rates
Georgia State University adopted this approach and found that on average, text messaging communication will cost around $7 per student, which resulted in an impressive ROI. Also, their summer melt rates were reduced by 21.4% and enrollment was increased by 3.9% compared to the years before. In addition, Georgia State found that the volume of students’ questions received was so high, without texting it would yield necessity to hire ten additional staff members to handle them all. Thus, texting services can help save on staffing expenditures.
Naturally, anyone can accomplish more when they have some assistance. The thoroughness of the text messaging services offers institutions the opportunity to become a trusted source, engage with prospective students, and decrease summer melt rates. It’s cost-efficient, the preferred communication style for the majority, and can handle high volume quickly. This could be a great way for colleges and universities to enhance their commitment to assistance and care, and show their students they are top priority.