Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that roughly 61% of high school graduates matriculated directly into college last fall, down from 2019’s pre-pandemic level of 66.2%.[1]
However, while the fall has traditionally been the primary initial intake semester for new freshmen, (and we may be seeing an overall enrollment trend-change) there is plenty of opportunity to enroll first time students in spring. This coming spring, in fact.
You see, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center said that overall college enrollments actually grew by 2.5% last year…[2]
With freshmen enrollment growing faster for the spring semester than overall undergraduate enrollment; up 3.9% over spring 2023.[3]
Simply put, although not at pre-pandemic levels, more students are once again enrolling in college… and more freshmen have enrolled in spring 2024 than likely expected.
Now, if this trend holds, and at this point we have no reason to believe it won’t, it could indicate more prospective students are not only enrolling in college once again…
But could indicate first time college students may be more interested in enrolling for spring 2025 than last spring.
Meaning now is the time to take advantage of the trend, regardless of whether you operate a traditional, online school or hybrid school.
In a moment, Conversion Media Group, a national leader in college enrollment initiatives, will show you how you can better ensure new students enroll in your institution for the spring semester…
Or how you can enroll them now if you don’t operate under the traditional semester model.
First, as you likely know, most traditional institutions require spring intake applications to generally be submitted by sometime in November. It’s now early October.
This means that if your institution hasn’t already begun processing applications (or attracting new prospects for the spring), you’re not only behind the ball, but your spring 2025 first-time enrollments are likely to suffer.
It’s why right now is the time to really push for those applications. Now’s the time for your enrollment department to be physically talking with prospects. Afterall, depending on your institution, you may only have a few weeks left to fill the roles.
So, with data showing a possible trend of more first-time students enrolling in the spring, here’s what your institution can do to push for applications.
Partner with Conversion Media Group.
We have the ability to not only generate new student leads for your institution, but we can physically hand these leads off to your enrollment department, while we have them on the phone.
Because we own and operate US-based contact centers (and generate qualified EDU leads through various digital marketing efforts), our phone agents interact with hundreds, sometimes thousands of prospective college students every week.
These prospects are of all ages, including many adult learners, many who have some college but have not graduated, many who want to learn fully online, many who are looking for online graduate degrees, and trade programs…
And many who want a career-based education.
What they all have in common is they’re looking for educational solutions. Solutions that you could offer them.
Or more specifically, solutions we could offer to them, for you!
See, once we’ve done all the leg work, and these high quality leads show genuine interest in your school or its programs, we can transfer them right into the hands of your enrollment reps. And we can do it either live while we have them on the phone, or we can do it as a more traditional EDU lead.
Now, on our end, the process is a bit more complicated than it sounds…
But for you it’s simple. Let Conversion Media Group handle the difficult part (lead gen) while you handle the applications!
Give us a call today at 1-800-419-3201 or contact us HERE and an enrollment expert with explain our strategies in more detail.
[1] 61.4 percent of recent high school graduates enrolled in college in October 2023 : The Economics Daily: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov)
[2] Current Term Enrollment Estimates | National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (nscresearchcenter.org)
[3] Current Term Enrollment Estimates | National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (nscresearchcenter.org)