Recruitment

At Northern Michigan University, recruitment strategies and activities are focused on three primary categories: undergraduate on-campus, graduate, and online. Diverse populations, including international students, are a component of each of those categories. NMU employees from all areas of campus, as well as current students, play a role in recruiting new students to NMU.

New and existing strategies and standard operating procedures are designed to meet these recruitment funnel objectives:

• build awareness; build the prospect pool

• promote visits to campus or pre-admission advising

• encourage application for admission and application completion

• convert admitted students to enrolled students (yield)

To achieve these objectives, action is taken to message appropriately on multiple platforms, make connections (prospective students to faculty, staff, and current students), build relationships, and provide prospective students opportunities to see NMU as the right college fit.  Ongoing assessment of standard and new activities includes monitoring of staff activity and of weekly application, admission, and orientation registration counts.

The Fall 2022 headcount of 6,970 students included 536 graduate students (7.69%) and 534 Global Campus students (7.66%). Future planning should define percentage goals for graduate and online enrollment to match national benchmarks.

View opportunities to engage in recruitment here. 

Strategic plan recruitment goals, tactics, and associated metrics are listed in the table below.

Strategic Plan Recruitment Goal 1: Attract NEW students from a variety of locations, backgrounds, race/ethnicity

Unit/Area Tactic Metric Goal
Undergraduate Deploy two additional admissions staff to generate enrollment in new geographic markets (Minnesota north/central, targeted national markets) Headcount from Minnesota north/central, and priority states in regions US-E and US-W 25 additional new freshmen/transfers compared to Fall 2022 from regions USE/USW/MNN for Fall 2023
Undergraduate

Pilot test the direct admit program from 3 partner schools

 Headcount from partner schools 6 new students for Fall 2023 from partner schools; prior 3-year average is 2
Undergraduate

Use Bridge Award to increase out of state enrollment

 Headcount from out-of-state Exceed the breakeven number of 14 out of state students per year
Undergraduate Implement the Common Application to increase applications & enrollment (yield) from national market Applications & headcount from national markets in Fall 2024 Increase applications from 2022 baseline national market of 600 to 625 (at 20% app to enroll yield) to generate 6 additional students over baseline (3 is break even to cover Common App costs)
Graduate

Launch new brand campaign to promote interest of graduate studies and research in order to increase inquiries from new markets

 Inquiries from new markets Positive change
Graduate Increase marketing resources in geographic locations with diverse populations Inquiries from diverse geographic locations Positive change
Graduate Reallocate existing internal funding to support more new students Count of students receiving support Increase from Fall 2022 baseline of 80 students to 90 students in Fall 2023
Global Campus Implement new entirely online programs Number of programs available online 2 new online programs a year
Global Campus Attract students to grow the unique programs offered by NMU online Global Campus headcount Increase from Fall 2022 (n=534) global campus headcount.
Global Campus Adjust staffing to meet current student demand and support needs Staff FTE Add one staff member in FY 22-23
International Reconnect with existing partners and establish new partnerships with educational institutions and industry to increase international enrollment Headcount from new and existing partners Increase from baseline of 12 students in Fall 2022
International Evaluate and streamline the international admissions process to reduce the number of applications that are unable to be processed without further documentation Incomplete applications Baseline will be established in Winter 2023
International Work with SEVIS (Student & Exchange Visitor Information System) to approve NMU CIP codes that relate to STEM for STEM OPT inclusion Number of SEVIS approved STEM CIP Codes Positive Change
College/Department Level Increase meetings and communication with prospective students Percent of departments that organize events that bring prospective students to campus or travel to events to engage prospective students All departments participate in at least one department generated recruitment event each year
College/Department Level Increase the count of departments that have bylaws that recognize recruitment efforts as service in order to increase faculty involvement (campus visits, Wildcat weekend, presidential scholars)

Percent of departments which have bylaws that recognize recruitment efforts

Faculty participation		 Positive change
Marketing and Communications Identify markets and target advertising by monitoring the geographic origin of admission inquiries, website visitors, and email marketing open-rates Markets Hot markets will be added, low markets will be dropped on quarterly basis
Marketing and Communications Increase performance with paid digital advertising by refining messages targeted at specific audiences and locations Channel metrics Content success reviewed and advertising adjusted on a monthly basis
Marketing and Communications Utilize social media engagement by delivering stories and campaigns across platforms to support enrollment and retention initiatives Channel metrics Content success reviewed and advertising adjusted on a monthly basis
Marketing and Communications Utilize traditional advertising to develop effective name recognition and campus awareness messaging Efficacy of advertising Content success reviewed and advertising adjusted on a quarterly basis

 

Strategic Plan Recruitment Goal 2: Attract MORE students from existing markets

Unit/Area Tactic Metric Goal
Undergraduate Conduct joint recruitment activities with academic departments to introduce NMU programs to new audiences Number of new activities completed Complete at least 5 activities with 3 departments in 2022-23
Undergraduate Implement an online transfer credit tool (Transferology) to capture new leads and enroll more transfer students Transfer headcount Increase from Fall 2022 386 transfer headcount to 400 in Fall 2024 (+14 over base)
Undergraduate Hire new transfer pathway/partnership position to create stronger pipelines for students with prior college credit Staff FTE Add one staff member in FY 22-23
Graduate

Launch new brand campaign to promote interest of graduate studies and research in order to increase inquiries from existing markets

 Inquiries from existing markets Positive change
Graduate Reallocate existing internal funding to support more existing students Count of students receiving support Increase from Fall 2022 baseline of 80 students to 90 students in Fall 2023
Global Campus Implement a stopped-out student re-engagement plan to re-engage students with NMU credit Headcount Increase YOY re-entry headcount
Global Campus Expand just-in-time education offerings to meet the needs of the industry's professional development needs Number of just-in-time program offerings Yes/No: Meeting current industry needs
Global Campus Expand scholarship program opportunities that are available to Global Campus students Number of scholarships Add 1 scholarship(s) opportunity per year
Global Campus Establish a process to articulate non-credit education to university credit to help students time to degree and financial needs Articulation process established Completed by Winter 2024
International Redesign the International Programs website for cultural clarity and ease of navigation to drive international applicants Website changes Done Yes/No
International Increase opportunities for international students from under-represented countries to be awarded academic scholarships to ease the financial burden and increase enrollment Scholarship opportunities for international students Increase the International Academic Award scholarship to match the non-resident bridge award of $5,600
International Increase graduate school matriculation from bridge program partnerships with existing exchange universities Headcount Increase from baseline 0 in Fall 2022
College/Department Level Increase meetings and communication with prospective students Percent of departments that organize events that bring prospective students to campus or travel to events to engage prospective students All departments participate in at least one department generated recruitment event each year
College/Department Level Increase the count of departments that have bylaws that recognize recruitment efforts as service in order to increase faculty involvement (campus visits, Wildcat weekend, presidential scholars)

Percent of departments which have bylaws that recognize recruitment efforts

Faculty participation		 Positive change
Marketing and Communications Leverage current students from particular geographic regions to increase peer to peer engagement through digital and social media

Count of ads

Channel metrics		 Increase from current 10% of content to 20% of content during the 22-23 academic year
Marketing and Communications Utilize traditional advertising to develop effective name recognition and campus awareness messaging Efficacy of advertising Content success reviewed and advertising adjusted on a quarterly basis

Back to Enrollment Plan | Forward to Retention and Student Success