Category: Universities

Conversations with higher education leaders about re-engaging, retaining, and graduating adult students.

myFootpath’s mission is to help universities transform lives by engaging and graduating nontraditional students who may have stumbled along the path to degree completion. In our previous “Perspectives in Higher Education'' column, we set out to learn how the pandemic shaped online learning and the outcomes of adult learners. As we tackle the challenges of 2023, we are focused on two macro trends - an increasing population of stop-outs and broad population declines that are expected to significantly decrease university enrollment. As universities reengage stop-outs, they can not only help more students complete degrees but also significantly impact their own enrollment. Yet, the reengagement strategy is still emerging as institutions work to understand and build internal expertise. As myFootpath has built a deep and rich understanding of adult students and how to reengage them, these two market trends present a tremendous opportunity to collaborate with universities and significantly impact the higher education industry.

In our new series of “Perspectives in Higher Education,” Dr. George Rohde sat down with industry leaders to find out how institutions can focus on bringing back adult learners in 2023. His first conversation was with myFootpath’s CEO and Founder, J.T. Allen. Read the edited excerpts from their conversation below.

Rohde: 2022 was an exciting year for myFootpath. Can you tell us about the growth of myFootpath in 2022 and your goals for the next year?

J.T. Allen: 2022 was a fantastic year for myFootpath. We achieved a 30% increase in revenue and made significant contributions to the retention, marketing, and reengagement of adult students. We measure our overall success by the number of concurrent students that we serve, and we plan to make significant strides on this metric in 2023. We are collaborating with more and more universities, while deepening our current relationships. It’s an exciting time!  

Rohde: Why is the adult student market such a focus for myFootpath?

J.T. Allen: There are 39 million students who started but did not finish their degrees, which is 3 million more than before the pandemic. Additionally, it's estimated that 10 million students applied to university but never attended. This market represents about one-third of the working population and presents a tremendous opportunity. While myFootpath has already helped thousands of adult students earn a credential, our goal is to help universities reduce their stop-out rate to zero. One of our greatest assets as a company in completing this goal is our dedicated team of professionals who break down barriers and help universities graduate students. Institutions are just learning about the emerging opportunity around student reengagement. The challenge is that there is not a lot of internal institutional expertise or dedicated resources to launch comprehensive reengagement campaigns. Our goal is to fill that gap in the market with our expertise. 

Rohde: Many universities are not aware of their stop-out population. How does myFootpath help them identify it and reengage these students effectively?

J.T. Allen: With 23 years in the business, we know the adult student market very well. We often find that institutions know adult students a lot better than they think they do. Typically, they have lots of data on former traditional students in their research department. However, as the student ages into an adult student (editor’s note: adult students are typically 25-45) there is often a disconnect between the historical university data and translating that data into reengagement actions. Because of this disconnect between data and action, many universities make two mistakes when evaluating a reengagement campaign - they vastly underestimate the size of a potential campaign and they often are unsure what tools and resources they need to efficiently focus efforts.  

We set out to make reengagement easier for universities. Our first step is to show university leaders, typically across different departments, the massive potential surrounding reengagement. We have created an easy, no cost, painless process, that includes our data partnership with the National Student Clearinghouse.

With this analysis in hand, we then work with institutions on the activation strategy. To function efficiently, it’s critical to understand which segments of the institution’s population are most likely to reengage, through which medium, and with what actions. You need the right systems, data, and reports to iterate on the outreach strategy and create success. And, while the recipe often consists of the same ingredients, you assemble the ingredients in different ways, building a custom approach by institution. You waste an awful lot of time and resources if you focus on the wrong areas. Our skill lies in identifying which segments and which actions are likely to get students to reengage and re-enroll quickly, and at scale.   

Rohde: What investments and trends are you observing in universities regarding the adult stop-out population and reengagement efforts?

J.T. Allen: During the pandemic, stop-outs increased by almost 10%. More universities are recognizing this increase as a critical issue, but are just starting to work through different actions they can take to reverse the trend. We hope to empower universities to understand the full scope of possibilities surrounding reengagement. 

Rohde: Universities often struggle to allocate resources towards reengagement - around data analysis or marketing or student success. How does myFootpath make all three of these goals attainable?

J.T. Allen: Well, step one is to understand the scale and scope of the resources needed for success. Because most universities underestimate the number of students they can successfully reengage, internal initiatives tend to be underfunded. Many times we hear that the institution is going to reallocate a portion of a person’s responsibilities to reengagement. While well-intentioned, without the right tools or in-house reengagement expertise, it is very difficult for these “partial resource reallocations” to succeed at scale. Without a structured approach, most internal resources quickly become overwhelmed with the various student issues. 

In contrast, with the deep expertise our team has with reengagement, we can bring speed and scale to any initiative. We deploy specialized talent and technology tools that bring the right data analytics, marketing, and student success resources to the reengagement campaign at the right moments in time This efficiency allows the campaign to grow to its full potential 

We structure the financial model so that both our firm and our university partners win. Our collaborative approach to the reengagement problem sets us apart as we create true partnerships and deliver robust financial returns for universities.  

Rohde: With the addition of three new members to the advisory board, what impact do you hope they will have on myFootpath?

J.T. Allen: The most crucial aspect we look for when adding members to our team is their passion for adult students. A commitment to making a difference in this demographic is essential for making an impact in higher education. Our three new advisory board members bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise in various areas related to adult learners. Charlie Nguyen, for instance, has a background as an entrepreneur and has implemented large programs at Apollo Education Group and Western Governors University. He brings a dynamic entrepreneurial perspective to the team. Kristine Glein has over 25 years of experience in higher education and offers invaluable knowledge and insights, especially around admissions and retention issues. Finally, David Sprott, with his background as a professor of marketing, brings a unique perspective to our team. He has expertise in engaging adult learners through effective messaging and communication techniques. We are thrilled to have each of their perspectives and cannot wait to work with them.

To read more "Perspectives in Higher Education, click here.

Highlights from Webinar: December 8, 2022

JT Allen, CEO of myFootpath, and Laurie Pulido, CEO of Ease Learning, teamed up in this webinar to address the everyday barriers adult students face when completing college degrees. The shared goal of engaging these non-traditional adult students has become more challenging as the number of stop outs (students who stop attending university with no earned credential) has increased and more and more adult students re-enroll online. The big question: how can higher education institutions address these barriers and engage students in a practical way? The answer lies in tying education to a students’ goal, structured conversations, and brilliant online course design. Time and time again myFootpath and Ease Learning have found that these elements win the day. This webinar explored these topics. 

With barriers such as cost of attendance, course availability, disengagement, etc. becoming more difficult to overcome, the number of adult students who pursue a degree but never graduate continues to rise. According to the National Student Clearinghouse, 39 million Americans went to college but didn’t earn a degree. Minority students in particular have struggled to persist to a degree -  black undergraduate student enrollment fell by 14.8% and Latino undergraduate student enrollment fell by 10.3% from 2019-2021.

What is the common theme that keeps these underserved students from graduating? A lack of engagement. The responsibility to engage students falls on higher education institutions to take action in a number of ways. In order to engage these students through structured conversation, it is important for universities to address the “why”: why are they completing this degree? To better him or herself? To get that job promotion? To obtain or maximize those soft skills? To what extent can universities support students to help them acquire the degree that makes them ready for their next career move? By reminding students of “why” they are pursuing a degree, in combination with taking a practical approach to helping students overcome barriers, universities can drive enrollment, retention, and DEI efforts.

When many of these stop-out students return, they choose to do their coursework online because of the flexibility this modality offers. Universities that embrace guided pathways that offer students the opportunity to choose engaging coursework, relevant degree programs, and to develop an academic roadmap will see more students complete degrees. And, when the roadmap includes a credential that leads to a job, the end goal often pulls the student through towards degree completion.   Engagement at each step of the student funnel and while students are completing coursework helps more adult students graduate and thrive. 

myFootpath shared several case studies of adult students and the barriers they had to overcome, such as homelessness, addiction, finances, and lack of mentorship. Actively making efforts to keep these students engaged by understanding each life barrier and then developing specific plans to overcome each barrier is ultimately how myFootpath helped these students succeed. Engagement - in the coursework, in the degree program, in the process - drove success. And, we are so proud of these students!

Understanding a student’s life barriers isn’t the only key to engaging students–the answer also lies in excellent online course design. Ease Learning’s online learning framework is learner-centered, and focused on the student’s outcome. Courses are designed with the learner at the forefront, and with all styles of learning in consideration in an effort to keep students engaged from the beginning. These engaged learners become top performers. Through these applied efforts and continued attention to the issue, universities can effectively keep adult students engaged through graduation.

This webinar highlighted the overlap between the work myFootpath and Ease Learning both do with adult, non-traditional students. There is a link below to the full webinar. In the slides and discussion, university professionals will get practical tips, suggestions, and know-how for how to bring these concepts to their campuses. And, of course, if you need a helping hand, both myFootpath and Ease Learning are here to help. Cheers to all those dedicated professionals helping adult students succeed. We are proud to call you colleagues and work with you to transform lives together. 

To watch the webinar recording, click here.

According to a national and state completion rate report by the National Student Clearinghouse, progress in national college completion rates have stalled. This report contains six-year and eight-year completion rate data.

✔️ Ready to learn more? Click here to view the report

Conversations with higher education leaders about online learning, the future, and the pandemic’s lasting impact on higher education.

An interview with: Luke Schultheis, Helms College - Executive Vice President of Education, Fairleigh Dickinson University - Vice President for Enrollment, Planning & Effectiveness (formerly).

Luke Schultheis is a higher education thought leader advancing student success, institutional effectiveness and resourcing to support the academic enterprise. He has worked in higher education for 24 years, teaching hospitality management and has procured roles in enrollment and outreach services. When we interviewed Luke, he was leading enrollment at Fairleigh Dickinson, but he has since taken on a new role leading Helms College. This is from the perspective of Fairleigh Dickinson.

Dr. George Rohde interviewed Luke as we approached the Fall of 2022. Here are edited excerpts from that interview with a focus on the challenges presented to universities and its faculty amidst the switch to online learning accelerated by the pandemic.

George Rohde: How is Fairleigh Dickinson University leveraging the transition from in-person to online instruction?

Luke Schultheis: We really began offering online education about four years ago with a focus on graduate programs. Due to the pandemic, we began to offer more programs online with hybrid options for students as well. Regardless of the mode of instruction, our goal is always to prepare students for a career and to enter the workforce after graduation. This can be difficult to leverage for our faculty, who have to remain dedicated and engaged with their students in the online space. We have been putting a more focused effort into helping both faculty and students in this transition.

George Rohde: How has the transition to online learning affected enrollment?

Luke Schultheis: As mentioned, we are more experienced in online education at the graduate level than undergraduate. At both levels, however, we have increased our efforts in understanding their concerns when it comes to accessibility of education. What we’ve found is that students prefer a hybrid approach to learning.

In an effort to increase enrollment, we’ve been working to develop a more cohesive definition of hybrid learning to make the delivery as easy as possible for faculty. This has been challenging because there is no single, industry-wide definition of hybrid learning yet, so everyone has a different expectation. Our goal is to manage these expectations in a way that gives faculty a level of autonomy in their instruction, and students a high quality education.

George Rohde: Speaking of expectations, how have they changed, from the perspective of students, with the increase in online learning?

Luke Schultheis: They have changed in a few ways. Firstly, faculty expect to be provided with the tools they need to be able to offer a dynamic learning environment. They also expect to be trained so they can effectively operate these tools and take advantage of their benefits. On the student side, they expect to be able to reach out to their instructors and have access to them around the clock. It is a balancing act between catering to the needs of students and staff.

George Rohde: What about classes that traditionally required students to be in-person, such as labs? Do you think their presence in online learning is here to stay?

Luke Schultheis: I certainly hope so. There’s no question that students prefer this method of instruction, as we’ve seen with student-provided feedback. We know that hybrid and online learning gives students a convenience that they may not have had before. The challenge arises, however, with faculty’s ability to provide a high-quality education in an online environment. The tools we currently have in place have been working for us so far, but as online education becomes more of a standard, we hope to have newer solutions that will make it easier to do so.

George Rohde: Do you think people are going to want to revert back to the traditional, in-person mode of learning post-pandemic?

Luke Schultheis: I don’t think so. Too many people have experienced the benefits of remote work and learning to want to return to the traditional form of learning where students have to commute to campus 4-5 times a week for 4-6 years. I can’t see how that can continue to be sustained in this new climate of remote learning. There’s absolutely a place for this kind of instruction, but universities will continue to adapt to online learning to offer high quality education. This is why it is so important for us, and other universities as well, to invest in our faculty and to provide the necessary tools and technologies so that they can effectively deliver the curriculum that will prepare and educate students to enter the workforce.

George Rohde: Excellent insight, thank you for sharing your perspective and thoughts about this.

Conversations with higher education leaders about online learning, the future, and the pandemic’s lasting impact on higher education.

An interview with: Adam Herman, Rice University - Executive Director, Office of Academic Programs and Student Experience

Adam Herman serves as executive director of the Office of Academic Programs and Student Experience at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business in Houston, Texas. Nurturing a dedicated team of talented professionals, Adam is responsible for delivery of a high-quality MBA student experience to full-time, professional, online and executive MBA students at Rice Business.

Dr. George Rohde interviewed Adam as we approached the Fall of 2022. Here are edited excerpts from that interview.

George Rohde: How are you currently leveraging online education?

Adam Herman: Our team’s primary engagement with online education is in supporting our MBA@Rice program, the business school’s online MBA. When the pandemic emerged in March 2020, we pivoted immediately to remote delivery of our coursework to ensure that we could deliver courses on schedule so that our students would earn their degrees on time. Since then, we’ve utilized technology to deliver different degrees of optionality and continuity to our students. In Fall 2020, for example, students in our campus-based MBA program had the ability to select in-person or remote learning, depending on their individual circumstances, needs, and comfort level. 

A new opportunity has emerged to honor and amplify a core element of the value proposition of our campus-based programs while also retaining those elements of COVID-era delivery that may make sense. Rice University continues to utilize those resources we found helpful in the height of the pandemic to educate our students today.

George Rohde: How have expectations for students changed pursuing the online MBA?

Adam Herman: Students continue to expect high-quality synchronous and asynchronous course delivery. The online MBA is becoming an increasingly popular opportunity to pursue, especially for students who want to retain their full-time employment while seeking the additional capabilities, confidence, and knowledge that comes from a graduate business degree. 

We’ve been excited by the desire of our online MBA students to be more fully invested with in-person student activities and co-curricular programming, from a popular Thursday evening social gathering known as “Partio” (party on the patio), to our Women in Leadership Conference, to off-campus gatherings designed to increase networking and interaction among online students.

George Rohde: What strategies has Rice University deployed to keep online learners engaged?

Adam Herman: We continue to seek opportunities to ensure that online MBA students can be involved and engaged in ways that resonate with them, and allow optionality and flexibility. This includes facilitating networking and social gatherings, student clubs and organizations, career services, etc. The recent establishment of a student government association for our online MBA program will allow us to partner with students to collaborate on programming and new initiatives. An overarching approach that allows us to innovate and serve our students is the willingness to try new strategies, identify what works and what doesn’t, and adapt as necessary. We’ve used these engagement strategies before the pandemic and will continue to assess their success with online and in-person learning in the future. Concerning reengagement, students in the online MBA program receive regular outreach from their student success advisor on success in the program and progress toward their degree. This outreach does extend to students who have been out on a Leave of Absence or were not enrolled in the most recent term, including those who may have paused their progress.

George Rohde: Thank you for your insights, we look forward to publishing them for our readers.

Conversations with higher education leaders about online learning, the future, and the pandemic’s lasting impact on higher education.

An interview with: Dr. Michael Huffman, Virginia Commonwealth University - Founding Director of the Office of Continuing and Professional Education (retired), Founder Lexicon Advisors

Dr. Michael Huffman is a long-time leader in the field of professional and continuing education. He spent the better part of two decades with Virginia Commonwealth University — first as a faculty member and then with ever-expanding roles leading continuing education for the university. Among his many areas of expertise are online education, digital and micro-credentials, and strategic corporate relationships. He has served in a board capacity for the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA). Dr. Huffman is a strategic advisor and investor to Fourth Rev, an ed tech company that collaborates with industry leaders and top universities worldwide to deliver the best of career-focused education. He recently joined the Advisory Board of myFootpath.

Dr. George Rohde interviewed Dr. Huffman as we approached fall 2022. Here are edited excerpts of his expertise, with a particular focus on online education and reengagement trends he is seeing as well as ongoing work in the marketplace.

Rohde: Well, first let me say, I’m excited to work with you! Let’s start this conversation with what are you working on? What gets you excited in the [online education] industry these days?

Huffman:  I got involved with myFootpath because I am a huge believer in adult learners, and the value a college degree can bring to adults later in life. I focused most of my career at the university level in continuing education, and I saw again and again the value education can bring to enhance and develop the careers of adult learners.   

Rohde: That’s a great overview. How are you seeing universities approach reengagement of adult learners? How has the pandemic factored into this approach?

Huffman: Well, university enrollments are down 4-5% nationally, and community colleges are down even more at 8% or so just last year. So, there are lots of students who stopped out or didn’t get started at all during the pandemic. These lower student numbers are a substantial drain on universities and the tuition revenue these students bring. This trend is compounded by the looming enrollment cliff in 2025. The pandemic worsened this substantial pressure on student enrollments, and it’s only going to get more challenging as the decade continues. 

I think universities are now seeing reengagement of adult learners as one of the few strategies they can actively pursue to try to make up this student shortfall. That said, I think universities are just starting to see the real scale behind this opportunity. By that, I mean most universities go after the students who stop out for a year or two already. However, the opportunity can be much, much larger when you go back two decades or more. It’s a different scale, and universities are just discovering how powerful this channel can become.

Rohde:  What role did the move to ‘all online’ coursework during the pandemic play in universities seeing the reengagement opportunity?

Huffman: The pandemic was an all-out crisis. I would characterize much of the education colleges delivered as emergency online coursework rather than online education. The pandemic forced the hand of universities. They had to innovate, right now, with online coursework.

But now, universities are really stepping back, evaluating their early work [in the pandemic], and enhancing what they have done. I believe universities need to meet students where they are, and right now, many students are seeking an online, or at least partially online, experience. I think many universities have risen to the challenge of delivering an online education. They have turned the emergency work into a strategic imperative to bring high-quality online degree programs to the marketplace.

Rohde: What are you seeing amongst leading universities in online education? Where are they making investments?

Huffman: Many universities I have conversations with are bringing their extensive resources to help faculty teach online. Let me illustrate. Some faculty, especially early in the pandemic, just put their syllabus online and posted the homework. Now, I am seeing faculty really invest in making online coursework great. Faculty are looking at the A/V equipment, figuring out how to use multiple cameras/angles, making sure they have the right microphones to capture sound, working with instructional designers on formats and visuals and interaction. The depth of [course] development has evolved significantly in the past 18 months, and I think it will only continue to get better among leading online universities.

Rohde: Do you see universities investing in reengagement?

Huffman: Yes, I do see universities making some investments [in reengagement], but they often just aren’t positioned to capture all possible students from a full-scale reengagement effort. As you know from myFootpath’s work, it can take years of multi-channel marketing messages to reengage an adult student. Stop-out students take more time than traditional students, as they are leading adult lives now. Most universities are focused on new students, and that gets most of the investment. Reengagement may get a partial position or a student worker to assist, but that’s nowhere near what’s needed. I think that’s good news for myFootpath, especially as you invest in your institutional partners’ success through tuition share and other financial models.   

Rohde: Thank you, Michael, for sharing your insights and perspective with me today. I look forward to sharing your comments with our readers.

Conversations with higher education leaders about online learning, the future, and the pandemic’s lasting impact on higher education.

myFootpath’s mission is to help universities transform lives by engaging and graduating nontraditional students who may have stumbled along the path to degree completion. And not to understate the problem, but COVID-19 sure caused a lot of students to stumble. In summer 2022, we set out to examine why. Through a series of conversations with higher education leaders, we discovered how different universities approached online learning, career readiness, student success, and more.

These conversations were conducted by Dr. George Rohde, just as universities were getting ready for students to return in fall 2022. As Dr. Rohde set out on this endeavor, his first conversation was with myFootpath’s CEO and Founder, J.T. Allen. Read the edited excerpts from their conversation below.

Rohde: You’ve been leading myFootpath for over 20 years. How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact the university market you serve and myFootpath?

J.T. Allen: Like so many industries, the university business model was up-ended virtually overnight. While overall enrollment was declining slightly among the traditional 18- to 24-year-old population, it plummeted with the pandemic. Schools who were dabbling in online learning were forced to adapt to 100% online or risk shutting down permanently. For an industry that has historically moved slowly, this was a pace of change that leaders rarely had to face before. I think leaders throughout the industry are still shell-shocked and wrestling with how to compete effectively in this new era.   

For our business, we’ve always focused on online, adult students, and suddenly there were a whole lot more of them (editor’s note – almost double according to NC-SARA). As a result, we enhanced and expanded how we help our university clients.      

Rohde: How well did universities adapt to delivering online learning?

J.T. Allen: Surprisingly well. We saw example after example of resilience. Not to say there weren’t hiccups, but I think the pandemic forced reluctant faculty to jump into online learning “with two feet.” I remember chatting with one online leader, and she mentioned that she had never had so many calls and meetings or such urgency around online courses as she did during the height of the pandemic. Everyone was “all in.” Most universities needed this to survive, and faculty recognized it and rose to the occasion.

Rohde: Ok, so now what? How will universities continue to deliver online courses and degrees? And, maybe more interestingly for our audience, given this new phase of the pandemic we are entering in fall 2022, how are colleges going to compete effectively in what feels like a very different world than fall 2019?

J.T. Allen: That’s a great question. What we are hearing in the marketplace from university leaders probably falls into a couple of categories. First, we are seeing many universities commit to delivering high-quality online courses and degree programs. These institutions have decided to invest in this area, recognizing that the demand for online degrees has drastically increased because of the pandemic. They expect students to continue demanding at least some online courses, and institutions are focused on meeting the students “where they are.” Second, we are seeing more and more schools consider alternative channels for attracting more students to plug enrollment gaps that are still lingering. For our business, that means a lot more institutions are interested in reengagement and bringing back stop-outs. But universities are also looking at community partnerships, the military, and other areas that may bring more students to the physical or virtual campus.

Rohde: How are higher education institutions attacking student reengagement, particularly for students who may have stopped out during the pandemic?

J.T. Allen: As I mentioned, we are seeing more and more interest in and evaluation of reengagement of stop-outs as a viable channel. Indeed, I think in this series, you will see this theme consistently. But what we are also seeing is university offices just decimated by the Great Resignation, and most of the folks we talk to are struggling to hire the talent they need to pursue the student opportunity around reengagement. As a result, we seem to be having many conversations with institutions about how we can potentially help.

Rohde: What do you hope readers will take away from the Perspectives column?

J.T. Allen: I think this column can highlight the deep higher education industry expertise that myFootpath encounters in conversations every day. The pandemic is entering a new phase, and so many leaders I talk to are trying to figure out how it will impact their institutions. From online learning to reengagement to the value of a degree to student success — I hope readers will use this column for insights and practical examples of tips, tools, and strategies that they can bring to their institution.

Rohde: Thank you, and we hope our readers enjoy the columns below. We’ll be releasing a new one for the next several weeks as part of this series.  

Perspectives: Courtney Borton - Golden Gate University - Chief of Marketing, Vice Provost of Marketing & Enrollment

Perspectives: Dr. Michael Huffman, Virginia Commonwealth University - Founding Director of the Office of Continuing and Professional Education (retired), Founder Lexicon Advisors

Perspectives: Joshua Bedwell, University of Central Florida, Assistant Vice President, Marketing Strategy

Perspectives: Robert Springall, Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate Education and Executive Director of Undergraduate Admissions at Penn State University

Perspectives: Adam Herman, Rice University – Executive Director, Office of Academic Programs and Student Experience

Conversations with higher education leaders about online learning, the future, and the pandemic’s lasting impact on higher education.

An interview with: Courtney Borton – Golden Gate University – Chief of Marketing, Vice Provost of Marketing & Enrollment

Courtney Borton is a long-time higher education leader and marketer, with stints helping university clients at Pearson, University of Central Florida, University of Colorado System, and Golden Gate University. She excels at building all the marketing and enrollment elements that drive successful online student programs.

Dr. George Rohde interviewed Courtney. Here are edited excerpts of her expertise, with a particular focus on the online operations at Golden Gate University.

Rohde: As we approach Fall 2022, what does the competitive world look like for online programs? What are the dynamics?

Courtney Borton: That’s a great question and let me just set the stage. Golden Gate University (GGU), even before the pandemic, faced some daunting competition. And one thing I quickly learned throughout the years of working within higher education and launching online programs is, “Just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come [and enroll in the program].” GGU competes against several California institutions in addition to the saturated online program market. That means as we launch programs, we need to be strategic, really thinking through what programs students are looking for and need today, in addition to how we can differentiate those programs and win against the competition. It was true before the pandemic, and now with more and more schools offering online programs than ever before, it’s true today.

Rohde: That’s a helpful background, but let’s go a little deeper with this topic. How is GGU really setting itself apart, specifically in the online program offerings amongst competitors today?

Courtney Borton: GGU has a rich history of being an innovator in higher education and is now expanding into other markets globally. We are on a mission to provide radically affordable access to higher education for students around the world. With a vision to provide online programs throughout the world, GGU is being very intentional about offering programs that students are asking for. These programs include business, technology, and law, to name just a few. Over the next several years, we will be continuing to launch innovative high-market demand programs. The key is to ensure you are meeting the needs of your students.

It’s worth noting that regardless of the program offerings over the years, I’ve noticed adult students are really looking for three things: 1) affordability; 2) entry points (meaning how quickly they can start from the point they engage in the process); and 3) how education helps them meet goals – which could be a promotion, a career change, family motivation, or updating their knowledge. This was true when I launched my first online program in 2011, and it’s still true today. The difference during the pandemic was that the students 18 to 24, who traditionally went to a campus, were suddenly forced online when that was the only option for a time. Guess what — many students liked the flexibility of online, the ability to hold down a full-time job and attend class, the delivery model — all those things that we use to highlight the value of online! But as the world enters a new phase of the pandemic, the 18 to 24 crowd is realizing, like the adult students have for years, that online programs need to be of high quality to keep the student because there is so much choice [of other institutions] in the marketplace when you aren’t limited to the geographic constraint of being on a college campus. I think those three reasons are why adult students choose an online program, and they will continue to be front and center in this new phase.

Rohde: But don’t the students miss the interaction? As a professor at Depaul University, my returning students sure are glad to be back. What are you seeing and how does it impact online marketers?

Courtney Borton: Honestly, it really depends. Modality is a student preference about how they prefer to learn. In my opinion, there have been preconceived notions about learning online. During the pandemic, when we were all forced to go remote, some of those notions by students and even faculty changed. Students were forced to either go remote (often Zoom sessions), change to an online program/course, or drop out. Many tried the online program/course route during the pandemic and not only enjoyed the experience but also appreciated the flexibility. Lives continue to get busier and busier, but students do not want to sacrifice education, so that flexibility means everything.

Rohde: What about the service model of delivery of online education? What are you seeing in the marketplace?

Courtney Borton: With the push to all online during the pandemic, I think some service gaps were exposed and may have increased on some campuses. The fully online population has a built-in expectation of a little more support — there’s advising, a success coach, a help desk, professor outreach — always resources that students can tap into on demand. An online student wants to send an email or chat request and get help right now. Compare that to the experience on campus where you would make an appointment with the department you need help from 3 days from now, and you patiently wait. That “make an appointment” approach just won’t work as well as it used to now that students have experienced the “higher touch” support.

Rohde: What are you seeing surrounding reengagement of stop-out students? Are colleges really pursuing this population?

Courtney Borton: Most of the time, as a marketer, my focus was on “net new” students. There’s a department for retention and preventing students from stopping out, and during the pandemic, there was a little more focus and soft touch applied to the student experience. But as for extensive outreach to reengage students that stopped out or were admitted and didn’t enroll, there were some limited efforts underway but those were just scratching the surface.

Rohde: So, people are stretched thin, probably impacted heavily by the Great Resignation as in every other industry. So, is this an opportunity for myFootpath’s Operation ReEngage offering?

Courtney Borton: People see the issue, no question, but they just don’t have the resources. No one is just an advisor, or financial aid coordinator, or a marketer. Everyone, and I mean everyone, must pitch in and do more jobs with less resources. So, when universities look at reengagement, it’s an area where they likely have limited resources and expertise (editor’s note: because the focus and measurement is on net new students), and someone on the staff has to do the reengagement work in addition to everything else. People often just don’t get to it on the list.

Rohde: So, people are stretched thin, probably impacted heavily by the Great Resignation as in every other industry, so is this an opportunity for myFootpath’s Operation ReEngage offering?

Courtney Borton: There is definitely an opportunity to partner with companies like myFootpath. University administrators are constantly battling the Great Resignation since the pandemic and doing what we can to backfill and recruit positions. If I had to look specifically for reengagement expertise, I think it would have been tough to find it, as it’s a limited skillset to start with. The expertise and staffing that myFootpath brings to reengagement could make a big difference at a lot of institutions today.

Rohde: Thank you, Courtney, for sharing your insights today. Your perspective has been invaluable to me, and we hope it helps our readers at their institutions.