These are great responses, Nina. How do these approaches differ from what you've done in the past?
Thanks Dr. Norris. The approaches are not different from the past. What will be different is the emphasis on key words such as funding options and the emphasis on benefits the school offers such as internship for hands on training in the field.
I would say the major obstacle is cost. Its hard to talk about tuition over the phone because that can easily turn a student away, especially if they are looking at state schools. I always try to give them as little information as possible over the phone and then further discuss the cost in person so they have the opportunity to visit the campus.
I don't think you're alone on this one Rachel. Many admission professionals would rank this as one of the top obstacles. Have you ever considered what someone who inquires about cost is really asking?
Oftentimes, we find they are searching for value instead of just a raw number. In other words people will pay more for something they want. We all do.
Take a peek at some of the other posts for an alternative way to deal with this question on the phone. I think you'll like it,
Tuition is always the most challenging obstacles especially because we are not accredited and therefore not eligible for student aid. In addition, loans are much more difficult to come by for our students these days. However, I always stay positive and believe if a student really wants to attend they will find the money. Even though we are a four year school I ask our students to think of it as a year by year enrollment process. I will now give them examples of other students and how they handled their tuition issues.
The most challening obstacles is when they refuse to make time to come in. Or would like to wait 1 week to schedule the appointment. What I use is to ask them if they remember why they made the inital contact and try to uncover the real reason why they are looking to make a change. This information is then used to use the features and benefits of the school and why it is important to them to come in to learn more about it
This sounds like an effective approach Denise. Breaking the overall expense into years is more accurate too for loan eligibility too.
If you get a chance look at the other forum posts on some ideas on addressing tuition or cost. You may find some other approaches to add to what you do.
Interesting. So let me ask you a question. Is the fact that they don't want to come in for an appointment an obstacle at all? What if they just have different preferences for how they want to get information?
The cost. make sure that i explain the Value of visiting the school.
Yes, dealing with the cost response is a tough one especially if we aren't sure what the actual objection is. Are they objecting to the total cost of tuition OR are they objecting to the fact that they don't know how to pay for it? These are two entirely different things and sometimes we miss the opportunity to discover which issue to resolve.
Perhaps try to clarify the actual objection first by asking, "What specifically about cost concerns you?" Once you do this, the student will point the way as to what their real concern is.
Is the potential students location, some are out of state or may take a couple of hours to reach us. I try to be very imformative about our school. Also sending out brochures with all the information we may have covered over the phone. I will also ask if they have any family members in the area because chances are some of them do. So I always welcome them to have family members stop in if the potential student cant.
These are great approaches Brenda however there probably are some prospective students that can't make it to campus, right?
In these cases, have you considered full engagement interviews over the phone and web? Some of the schools we work with in the online environment and those where students don't prefer an on-campus visit right away use this technique with great success.
Of course you want them on campus, yet sometimes this 1/2 step goes a long way to motivating them to put the effort into showing up.
Tuition is always the most challenging obstacles especially because we are not accredited and therefore not eligible for student aid.
Jennifer, it sounds as if you share the exact same concern as another person in the Forum. Can you provide more detail so that we can help you?
Most of the Obstacles is the students whant to resolve there situation over the phone. Something that can't be posible we need to handle the conversation in a way that they can feel attended in a posisitive way. And make sure that they understand that some process take time. Another Obstacles they need to learn to take the time to come and wait to be assist. Retetion of the student for a long period of time on there career depends on the perception that they get when they make contact with us looking for information.
Your last sentence is very, very true Elizabeth. I love it! The student's initial perception of the college and their ultimate choice on where they go to school is based on first impressions.
I'm curious then...given this is true, then why wouldn't we engage them over the phone versus making them come on campus initially?
Sometimes we try to help as much we can over the phone but what happened is that we face a lot of challenges like: We need to be confidential and protect the privacy of the students. Not only that there is some information that by law we can't give over the phone. But another challenge that we confront is students sometimes don't listen, and follow instructions when we try to anticipate what they need to bring to us in order to complete their process of enrollment. There is some situation when we don't have a choice and the students have to come in person. But we try to follow up evaluating their files and make an appointment to help then and complete the enrollment process as faster we can. So that way we can assist then as a professional Institution.
Ensuring confidentiality and the privacy of your students is very important indeed, Elizabeth. Working within the legal and ethical guidelines of your profession is imperative.
You're right, there are additional challenges posed that can be difficult to navigate, such as the student who chooses not to listen or follow instructions. What methods have you used in the past to overcome this particular challenge and how effective has it been for you?
TELLING THEM THE COST OF THE PROGRAM. I THINK THIS IS ONE KEY POINT THAT NEEDS TO BE TALKED ABOUT WHEN THEY COME INTO THE SCHOOL. THEY NEED TO SEE WHAT THEY ARE PAYING FOR.
We are seeing that a lot of students we are contacting are looking into the Community College because of lower tution rate. It is very hard to overcome this on the phone because they are unable to see the break down of tution rates here. I like to have them come in because a lot of them are unaware of what they can be awarded and don't realize that they could possible afford the cost of tution here at our school. We are seeing this occuring more often then we would like to see.
