Admissions Sites Get Low Budgetary Priority
Just how much priority should admissions sites be given? For prospective students, they're crucial, trusted, and highly utilized sources of information. But according to new research from education consultancy Eduventures, higher ed admissions departments give them a much lower priority--at least in terms of budgeting.
The report, titled Maximizing the Effectiveness of the Admissions Web Site, found that, on average, admissions departments allocated only 12 percent of their marketing budgets toward admissions sites, amounting to about $61,500. But based on a survey of 5,500 high school seniors and incoming freshmen, admissions sites have a critical impact on prospective students.
"Given that we now know the admissions Web site ranks as the most important channel through which colleges communicate with prospective students," the report stated, "we would expect institutions to be apportioning a relatively large share of their admissions marketing budget to the Web site. The data suggests this is not currently the case."
The report's call to action is a recommendation for budgetary increases (up to 25 percent to 33 percent) to improve "content, feel, and architecture, and enable colleges and universities to boost marketing effectiveness and yield rates."
The story doesn't end there. Next week in our regular "Weekly Stats" column we'll present the admissions site features that are most valued by prospective students. In the meantime, the full report is available for Eduventures' Enrollment Management Learning Collaborative membership. Further information can be found at the link below.
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