2014 Noel-Levitz research highlights: 7 things we learned this year about college students and higher education enrollment management

Noel-Levitz conducted numerous studies in 2014 to further understand the behaviors and attitudes of prospective and current students in higher education as they relate to student success, student retention, and new student enrollment. We also examined current campus practices for online student recruitment. Here are just a few highlights from all that we learned this year:

1. Half of college freshmen want career services upon arriving. In a new study, the desire of incoming freshmen for career services ranked highly among 25 measures of students’ desires for institutional services. There is also some evidence that freshman demand for career services remains high at mid-year. Download the 2014 National Freshman Attitudes Report, its Addendum by Race/Ethnicity, and Changes in Freshman Attitudes Following a Semester of Classes and Interventions.

2. White public high school seniors are expected to decline by 4.2 percent; Hispanic public high school seniors are expected to increase by 44.6 percent over the next ten years. A special report projects significant changes in higher education enrollments, based primarily on data from WICHE, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Download the 2014-24 Projections of High School Graduates by State and Race/Ethnicity.

3. Many undergraduates do not feel that the tuition they pay is a worthwhile investment. In our latest national report on college student satisfaction, only approximately half of students at four-year institutions agreed that the tuition they pay is a worthwhile investment. In addition, less than 50 percent of students at those institutions and 42 percent at community colleges were satisfied with the availability of financial aid. See our 2014 National Student Satisfaction Report, its four supplements by sector, and a special companion report, The Relationship of Student Satisfaction to Key Indicators for Colleges and Universities.

4. Students’ levels of financial need continue to rise. In our 2014 Discounting Report, we found that “high need” undergraduates at a sampling of four-year private institutions continued to enroll at these institutions in greater numbers while enrollments of undergraduates with less need continued on a downward trend. The study was based on a comparative sample of institutions that are partnering with Noel-Levitz to strategically award their financial aid.

5. Snapchat anyone? High school students’ preferences for social media keep changing, and so do their parents’ preferences. In two studies last spring of online recruitment and marketing, we found that Snapchat—a newer social media platform for sharing images—was used by 39 percent of graduating high school seniors but by fewer than 3 percent of college recruitment and marketing teams. We also learned that college-bound seniors use email more than their parents do. Download the 2014 E-Expectations Report and 2014 E-Recruiting Practices Report.

6. International prospective students place high value on conversations. A new study of international prospective graduate and undergraduate students found they value conversations with campus representatives and current students very highly during the recruitment process, especially since many are unable to visit campus prior to applying. Download Meeting the Expectations of International Undergraduate and Graduate Students.

7. Secret shopping still going strong. About one-third of incoming freshmen and more than half of incoming transfer students in fall 2014 were unknown to an admissions office before they submitted an application. Learn about the trends in secret shopping in our upcoming 2014 Recruitment Funnel Benchmarks Report to be released in January 2015. If you’re not already signed up to receive Noel-Levitz reports, sign up now.

You can find more higher education paper and reports on our website along with more than 300 posts on our blog. Looking ahead to 2015, we plan to release new benchmarks for the cost of recruiting, a special report on adult learners, and studies of effective campus practices in the areas of student retention and college completion, as well as marketing and student recruitment and a 10-year anniversary report on E-Expectations, among others. Also watch for Noel-Levitz’s 2015 update of the book, Strategic Enrollment Planning: A Dynamic Collaboration.

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Learn more about our Higher Education Research. To help educators stay on top of the many changes in higher education, Noel-Levitz regularly conducts trend research and shares its findings widely. Learn about four ways we provide information.