What Higher Ed Marketers Should Know About the New Enrollment Journey

The enrollment journey is changing

“The students didn't disappear, but the certainty has,” Crow said during the roundtable.

Student demand is shifting across community colleges, certificates, adult education, online programs and other alternatives to the traditional four-year path. Crow noted that institutions can miss these opportunities when they continue marketing the offerings they have historically emphasized rather than the options prospective students are actually considering.

Schools that put their full portfolio forward can create more entry points for students. Stackable credentials, completion programs and certificate-to-degree pathways can all play a role.

The first step is understanding what students are looking for and what questions they need answered.

AI is becoming part of the research process

Prospective students and their families increasingly use tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude to research schools and programs.

As Nickerson discussed, that creates a new visibility challenge for higher education marketers. Students can encounter an institution through Google, an AI platform, Reddit, YouTube or other channels, and each can contribute to their perception of a school.

Crow pointed out that AI-generated answers often pull from sources beyond an institution's website, including news coverage, review sites, forums and third-party rankings. The resulting narrative may differ from the story an institution tells about itself.

Marketers can start by seeing that narrative for themselves. Ask several AI tools about your institution and key programs, preferably in an incognito browser window. Look for gaps, inaccuracies and recurring themes.

From there, institutions can strengthen their own content and use research, data, storytelling and earned media to contribute credible information to the broader conversation.

Answer the questions students actually have

Higher education marketing needs to address the concerns behind a student's search.

Cost, time, career opportunities, return on investment and the student experience all factor into the decision. Content that answers those questions directly can give prospective students useful information at the point when they are evaluating their options.

Rushia emphasized the role of content throughout the student journey, particularly during the awareness stage. Student stories can make that content more relevant by showing prospective students what their own path could look like.

A single-parent student returning to school, a first-generation graduate or an adult learner changing careers can provide a more relatable picture of the institution than a list of institutional benefits.

Those stories can then become assets across web content, email, social media, video and paid media.

Connect marketing data to enrollment

Measurement becomes more complicated when the enrollment journey can span nine to 12 months.

Headley emphasized the importance of looking beyond a form submission or conversion pixel. A form fill provides a useful signal, but it does not tell marketers whether the prospective student is qualified or ultimately enrolls.

Connecting campaign data with CRM and first-party data can provide a fuller picture of the journey, from initial click through completion and eventual enrollment.

That connected view can help institutions identify which programs are performing well, where prospective students are dropping out of the process and where marketing investment could have the greatest impact.

Test, learn and adapt

The roundtable also highlighted the importance of a structured testing methodology.

Pines pointed to the need to connect attribution from the initial point of interaction through conversion while using first-party data to inform marketing decisions. He also emphasized that institutions need to reach audiences where they spend their time, which increasingly means expanding beyond traditional search.

Testing new channels, creative approaches and audience strategies can reveal opportunities, particularly when institutions document what changed and what the results show.

As the team discussed, the goal is to understand why something worked so those insights can inform the next decision.

Five things higher ed marketers can do now

The roundtable produced several practical starting points for institutions:

1. Ask AI about your institution. See what prospective students may be told about your school and key programs.

2. Secret-shop your inquiry process. Submit an inquiry and experience the follow-up process from a student's perspective.

3. Build content around student questions. Address cost, careers, time, ROI and the student experience with specific, credible information.

4. Connect your data. Bring campaign, website and CRM data together to understand what happens after the initial conversion.

5. Create a testing process. Test new channels and approaches, document the methodology and apply what you learn.

Higher education marketers face a more complex enrollment environment, but the roundtable discussion showed that institutions have actionable ways to respond. By connecting student needs, content, search visibility, storytelling and enrollment data, marketers can gain a clearer picture of how prospective students make decisions and where their institutions can better meet them.

View the entire roundtable here.

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