About 3.8 million high school graduates are expected to enter higher education institutions next fall. The number of former students with some college credit but no credentials is 10 times greater than the nearly 38 million working-age American adults. If institutions could re-attract 1% of SCNC learners, they would have a net gain of nearly 400,000 additional enrollments.
Dropout learners represent a huge market – and universities should be competing for them. But these former students and other adult learners need a much different approach from higher education institutions than an 18-year-old fresh out of high school. Here are three simple actions institutions can take to connect with adult learners and put them on a more direct path to enrollment.
Start with your own discontinued students
The fiercely competitive market for adult students is dominated by state-run online universities, which invest millions of dollars each year in sophisticated marketing campaigns. This makes it difficult for traditional universities to enter the adult learner space. But traditional institutions have an advantage when it comes to one segment of their adult learners: their own former students.
These students know their institution. They may remember some classmates, professors, or classes they took. They may still live nearby—if not in the same neighborhood, then in the same state.
Institutions unsure whether to admit these students should look to the examples set by other nearby and national universities that have successfully re-enrolled their own suspended students. They are likely to emphasize what they can do specifically for adult learners and offer a quick, streamlined admissions process. Successful institutions also apply for credit for prior learning before learners re-enroll and can tell incoming students exactly how long a course will take and how much it will cost. Institutions that are able to persuade former students to re-enroll can increase their chances of attracting other adults not affiliated with the institution.
Make it easier for former students to register
Universities should configure re-enrollment processes to address the unique circumstances of suspended students. This means universities should develop a start-to-finish re-enrollment process for students who drop out, just as they do for incoming first-year students, and then streamline the process to meet the needs of returning adult learners. A key starting point is to identify academic, financial, or programmatic barriers that prevent adult learners from re-enrolling and then communicate options for remediation.
Before students begin classes, institutions should be prepared to show students the most direct path to completing a certificate that can fit into the complexities of the time-pressed adult learner’s life and lead to a job in a high-demand, high-paying field after graduation. Institutions should clarify pathways and credit requirements for learners who wish to change majors from their original majors.
Institutions should also consider dedicating a section of their website to their suspended students. This webpage should contain detailed re-registration information tailored to your specific needs and support services that can assist you in your transition to college.
assist them financially
Here’s a quiz for institutions: How does your tuition discount rate for re-enrolling students compare to first-time students? This ratio is likely to be extremely low compared to other admissions segments.
Unlike first-year students, adult learners are financially independent and must squeeze college costs into already tight family budgets. Even a small increase in the discount rate for returning students could increase the likelihood that they will re-enroll. Better yet, calling it an “academic scholarship” confers prestige to the recipient and can give students who dropped out the boost they need to get back on their feet.
If a student who dropped out has an outstanding balance from a previous enrollment, consider reducing or waiving these outstanding fees to remove yet another barrier to re-enrollment. For institutions that spend millions of dollars each year to recruit and retain traditional-age students, small investments in adult learners can pay huge enrollment dividends.
Adult learners and dropouts are no longer niche groups in the higher education ecosystem, and data suggests they are a worthy investment for institutions concerned with changing demographics, enrollment cliffs, and unstable bottom lines. If institutions can reconnect with students they’ve shut down, make it easier for them to enroll and provide some financial aid, they can start bringing back more students and stand taller in the crowded higher education market.
