The University of Dayton-T2

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1 The University of Dayton-T2 1 The University of Dayton-T2 Our philosophy is to build a personal relationship with the students and family. The best ways to do that are in person and on the phone. The phone calls give the institution a voice to more people than we would have the resources to reach out to internally, and we could never have accomplished the amount of outreach we have had this year without the help of RuffaloCODY. This year we had one of the most successful years in our campus visits as well as an application increase, in part due to the conversations RuffaloCODY managed with our prospective students and families. Our staff can focus on other areas more in-depth, areas that they wouldn't have had time to focus on in the past. Our jobs take on more focus now that we can develop the relationship that RuffaloCODY has helped us foster with these students. Molly Wilson Executive Director of Enrollment Strategies Office of Enrollment Management The University of Dayton

2 The University of Dayton-T2 2 The partnership between the University of Dayton and RuffaloCODY dates back to the mid-1990s. It s been a story of success and continued improvement. This case study will focus on the process and results of RuffaloCODY s Total Telecounseling (T2) service and how it has strategically and successfully affected the recruitment of the class entering in fall 2011 from the beginning to the very end of the enrollment cycle. Continuous Personal Communication: Total Telecounseling (T2) RuffaloCODY s Total Telecounseling is a professionally managed and monitored program that increases consistency, effectiveness, and success for your on-campus telecounseling efforts. In-house telecounseling programs are notoriously inefficient and time-consuming for enrollment management teams seeking to build solid relationships with prospective students and their families in order to meet recruitment goals. RuffaloCODY has developed a solution that allows the University of Dayton to benefit from our industry-specific expertise in telecounseling services. RuffaloCODY provided: Calling management expertise Call center hardware Automated telecounseling software Information and data management Recruiting and training of student callers and staff Corresponding e-communication plan Creating and Strengthening Relationships with Students and Families Throughout the Enrollment Cycle The University of Dayton s T2 program for the fall 2011 cohort was divided into four different calling segments. Those were: 1. Campus visit 2. Application generation 3. Application reminder 4. Admission congratulations Each segment had a custom script and focused on strengthening students' and families' relationship with and commitment to UD. Each segment qualified student interest and fostered engagement so the enrollment team could focus its energy, institutional resources, and time towards students who wanted to continue along the enrollment process. In essence the process filtered each pool of prospective students, allowing professional staff to spend the greatest amount of their time on communication with those more apt to enroll.

3 The University of Dayton-T2 3 Campus Visit: Fall and Spring The campus visit call segment was conducted in two phases. Phase I allowed professional staff to focus their time and resources not only on those students identified as interested in visiting or unsure of their interest, but also on the other important fall enrollment activities of travel, meeting with campus visitors, and following up with those who had applied. In both campus visit call phases it was important to qualify the interest of each prospect. Thirty-three percent of those contacted indicated a positive interest in visiting the campus, and having this information at the right time enabled the staff to significantly increase campus visits for the fall 2011 class. Phase II of the campus visit call segment was strategically placed during yield to encourage visits from those admitted students who had not yet been to campus. Over 45% of these students indicated either an intent to visit the campus soon or were unsure of their intent and needed additional information. Understanding campus visitors is a critical piece of information in understanding the development of inquiry, applicant, and enrolling pools; we all generally agree that the more students we can get to visit campus, the better the outcome. Beyond framing counselor outreach, this calling segment provides helpful metrics in analyzing and adapting strategies during the cycle. It aids efforts in two important ways: 1. It is a friendly conversation with a prospective student in a very personal (and prospective-studentpreferred) mode of communication. This personal invitation to visit demonstrates to the student the level of interest UD has in him or her. 2. It identifies, through the already visited group, those students who have indeed been to campus but not in the official ways recorded by the admissions office. While ideally all inquirers should visit, understanding who has stepped foot on campus in some way outside of official programs is beneficial in understanding their level of interest in the institution. The interested group had much higher application completion rates than the not interested, and while the later segments of this program specifically focused on application generation and application reminders, students who were identified as interested in visiting established a deeper and more personal relationship with the institution from the very beginning. In the words of Executive Director of Enrollment Strategies Molly Wilson, We could never accomplish the amount of outreach we have had this year without the help of RuffaloCODY. We had one of the most successful years in our campus visits as well as an application increase, in part due to the conversations RuffaloCODY managed with our prospective students and families. This echoes the sentiment of her Enrollment Management team. Our philosophy is to build the personal relationship with the students and family. The best ways to do that are in person and on the phone. The phone calls give the institution a voice to more people than we would have the resources to reach out to internally.

4 The University of Dayton-T2 4 Segments: Application Generation & Reminder Two segments took place regarding the application process: application generation and application reminder calls. The application generation segment occurred from September to January and again focused resources during a time when the core professional staff were occupied with other important recruitment activities. 34% of the prospects indicated the intent to apply or were unsure of their intent. This steered the types and nature of the followup done by the staff. Associated with the Application Generation calls were followup calls to those students who had indicated their intent to apply but who had not yet submitted the application. Understanding who these students were enabled the staff to better counsel them regarding the process and address any obstacles preventing them from applying. Congratulations on Acceptance Nearly eight percent of the admitted students who were called to be congratulated were identified as no longer interested or unsure of interest and, in fact, that group accounts for less than one percent of the deposited group. This was important information in directing who the admissions staff should follow up with, enabling them to migrate their efforts away from those students who had already decided not to consider UD and towards those who were still interested, a group they could influence. By also knowing who was planning to attend, the staff could shift their conversations with those students to discuss post-deposit information. The team contacted accepted students; the calls had a positive, congratulatory tone. The timing of these calls once again provided a meaningful contact while allowing professional staff to focus on completing applications, admitting additional students, and assisting with the financial aid and scholarship processes, as well as providing them valuable information on how to steer conversations with the contacted students. Total Telecounseling (T2) as an Extension of and a Tool for Your Staff RuffaloCODY s T2 contributed to and helped direct the University of Dayton's successful enrollment season from beginning to end. Through this partnership, the University s enrollment leadership team had the necessary and practical information needed to make informed decisions throughout the cycle. Taken individually, each segment was successful in allowing staff to focus on the right students at the right time, addressing those issues that were most important to each student at the time they were most important. Together, the segments not only complement each other but they also allow for a synergistic deployment of resources, leading to enrollment success. Three key results stemming from T2 included: 1. Cohesive communications management from inquiry to deposit, fostering a growth in applications and enrollment 2. Increased geographical diversity 3. Net tuition increase

5 The University of Dayton-T2 5 Result: Application and Enrollment Growth The call strategies resulted in a larger applicant pool in 2011 than in By October 2010, 29% more applications had been received than at the same point the year before. By July 2011, the total volume of applications had grown 63%. Likewise, total acceptances were substantially increased relative to the previous year, with a 51% increase in admitted students and a 30% increase in deposits. Result: Increased Geographical Diversity The strategy also allowed for enhanced efforts focused on prospects and applicants outside of the institution s primary market, which led to a greater number of enrollments from these areas. An analysis of resulting deposits show that while deposits from Ohio increased 20%, deposits from out-of-state students increased 44%. For 2011, out-of-state students accounted for 50% of all deposits received: that is a five percentage point increase over Result: Net Tuition Increases The increase in enrolled students provided an additional $9.3 million dollars in net tutition revenue. Summary In choosing RuffaloCODY as a strategic partner the institution experienced success via a process that would not have been as efficient or as cost-effective if initiated without the partnership. To achieve a similar number of completed calls through an internally-run program would require an estimated 7,500 phone hours almost 40 hours per week throughout the process. About The University of Dayton The University of Dayton Catholic, Marianist, innovative, transformative stands as a leader in higher education and one of the preeminent Catholic universities in the nation. It's the largest private university in Ohio. Founded by the Society of Mary (the Marianists) in 1850, the University of Dayton focuses on educating the whole person through a community of challenge and support. A University of Dayton education is transformative. Students are prepared for both life and work and learn skills in building community. Our students lead through service to others.