The Benefits Of Outsourcing The Application Process ,

Many colleges and universities are tasked with increasing applications and enrollments, as well as improving the efficiency of enrollment management process. In the last 15 years, it has become common practice to seek the advice of outside "consultants" on how to improve university process management. A more recent trend in the enrollment management industry has been the outsourcing of the actual work that goes into promoting a university--marketing to prospective students--fielding inquiries from prospective students, and helping these prospective students to apply and enroll.

Below, I've provided our readers with a question/answer scenario that should help explain why so many of our clients have begun seeking more outside help, rather than less.

Q-In regards to outsourcing the application process; How can colleges and universities outsource such a sensitive component--surely this has a negative effect on these institutions are perceived by prospective students? How can colleges and universities know that their schools will be represented accurately, in a way that will not damage their academic integrity?

A-There would be no reason for prospective students, accreditation bodies, or anyone at all to form a negative perception of academic institutions that outsource marketing follow-up processes; this is because The Academic Advising Center, (TAAC) is staffed with Enrollment Specialists that are selected and trained in conjunction with the colleges and universities that we work with. The Enrollment Specialists are our employees, but they work for colleges and universities: In reality Enrollment Specialists that work in TAAC are more qualified because they benefit from the experience of our Admissions Trainers--the individuals that help train the ES--Admissions Trainers have successfully promoted many different colleges and universities. In the end, contracting Enrollment Specialists to initiate and field calls to and from students, increases student conversion rates, and builds on the existing quality of the call centers that colleges and universities already have in-house.

In addition, by not outsourcing, colleges and universities lose some of the refined marketing-optimization features that direct response marketing agencies can offer:

Aside from value that the TAAC center provides by adding to oversight and admissions training to existing call centers, TAAC provides real-time optimization features (like Prospective Student Conversion system, or PSyC) that benefit colleges and universities by providing the ability to deploy campaigns that increase in precision on a daily basis.

Q- Why can't colleges and universities develop and refine precise marketing campaigns on their own?

A- They can, but the time and money needed to develop and maintain a fully functional system make this a costly decision--in addition, without having the vast network of affiliates, colleges and universities will not be able to utilize the economies of scale that marketers are able to leverage.

In the end, for colleges and universities to develop features that are comparable to TAAC and PSyC, they would have to invest a great amount of time and money. TAAC and PSyC are the accumulation of years of direct response marketing experience. Outsourcing simply allows colleges and universities to dedicate more time and resources to education, rather than marketing.

Outsourcing the follow up marketing process is a simple way for colleges and universities to increase the efficiency of the enrollment management process. By working together, academic intuitions and enrollment management solutions providers their combine their particular areas of expertise and create a more efficient means for attracting and retaining students.