If you do not currently receive 3 Cues via e-mail and would like to, please e-mail us and we'll be glad to add you to our distribution list.

Inside This Edition:

• Make the Best of a Bad Situation
• How Spam, Telemarketing and Privacy Issues Impact Recruitment and Fund Raising
• What the Public Expects of Your Institution

The national media is replete with stories this spring describing the terrible job market for new college graduates, particularly those with liberal arts majors. According to a May 14 New York Times article titled "Graduates Lower Sights in Stagnant Job Market," 60% of this year's graduating class do not have jobs or a place in a graduate or professional school. Another study indicated that a similar percentage was planning to return home to live. This is certainly a less than exciting prospect for the families that just finished paying for four years of higher education! A May 8 Chicago Tribune article titled "For-profit colleges gain luster amid tight job market" reports that enrollment at for-profit institutions is at an all-time high because students feel they can get practical skills, and these institutions tout a job placement rate above 80%. The Survey of Public Opinion on Higher Education that we conducted on behalf of The Chronicle of Higher Education certainly corroborates the emphasis the public places on employment, since 92% of the public considers it either "very important" or "important" for colleges to prepare their undergraduates for careers. All of this coverage of the under- and unemployment of new graduates shifts attention to traditional colleges and universities with the implied question, "So, what are you going to do about it?"

GDAIS Observations and Recommendations
Everyone is concerned about the plight of these new alumni, and the negative press is indeed worrisome, so why not take the bull by the horns and do something about it? Why don't you show them you care? Right now they are feeling rejected by the world. Send a letter to your most recent graduates saying that you "feel their pain" and offering to provide them with some kind of special career services this first year. For example, tell them about networking events planned in the summer and/or fall. Or better yet, why not offer them a skills enhancing course that they were unable to take advantage of when they were on campus -- at half price or perhaps even free of charge? There probably would not be all that many takers, but the offer stands on its own as a significant gesture.

This letter, which would more than likely go to the parents' home, would also endear you to the parents who, after all, are some of the very best word of mouth marketers your institution has. The main thing is to start your relationship with this young alumnus/a not by asking for money, but by offering to help. What better way to cultivate a future supporter?

The April 28 issue of Time magazine had an article titled "Stop Calling Us" that estimated the number of telemarketing calls increased from 18 million in 1991 to 104 million in 2003. The technology website ZdNet estimates that by the end of the year, 63% of all the e-mails sent will be spam (unsolicited messages). To see the article, click here. As a result, the past few months have seen a surge in new legislation aimed at protecting our privacy by stopping spam and telemarketing calls. Virginia passed a law that includes $10,000 fines and jail time for spammers, and New Mexico just joined the ranks of 30 states that have created statewide "do not call" lists for those looking to block unwanted telemarketing calls (wouldn't that be everyone?). There has even been proposed legislation to create a national do-not-call list and a national anti-spamming law (the CAN-SPAM Act).

While colleges and universities as non-profit entities are typically immune to these kinds of legislation, there are a number of technology solutions that present very significant problems for colleges that use the telephone, e-mail and the Web to communicate with prospective students and donors. There are a number of call blocking devices and services available that prevent calls from making successful connections. A client of ours recently encountered such a device while the admissions staff was calling prospective students. Because the college telephone switchboard was set up to display "ID unavailable" on caller ID systems, over half of their phone calls to prospective students were blocked by a new phone service that automatically gives the caller a busy signal if their caller ID is obscured. As these call blocking services and products increase in popularity, admissions and development offices will inevitably find it more and more difficult to reach their constituencies. Likewise, various spam filtering software and services are making it very difficult for colleges to communicate via broadcast e-mail with students and alumni, even those who have elected to receive e-mail from them.

GDAIS Observations and Recommendations
Unfortunately, colleges and universities are being caught in the crossfire in the escalating war between aggressive marketers and individuals looking to protect their privacy. While there may be no simple solutions to get your legitimate messages through, we recommend that your college take a proactive approach to foster trust with your constituencies. A simple measure is to reassure them that you intend to respect and protect their privacy. We have come up with a privacy statement that we recommend our clients begin using on their printed reply forms, e-mail messages and Web forms. It's a simple reassurance that you will make every effort to protect the privacy of prospective students, alumni, etc. who submit personal information to the college. It also helps to protect you from culpability. The statement we typically recommend is simple and straightforward:

"At ______ College/University we respect your privacy. Any information you provide to us will be used solely for admissions purposes."

 
The Survey of Public Opinion on Higher Education we conducted on behalf of The Chronicle of Higher Education shows that a large majority of American adults believes that the primary role of a college education is to prepare undergraduate students for a career. However, nearly two-thirds also say that preparing adults for better jobs, preparing future leaders for our society and preparing students to be responsible citizens are very important roles of colleges and universities.

The least important roles for colleges were playing athletics for the entertainment of the community, improving the image of the state in which the university is located, and promoting international understanding by encouraging students to study in other countries.

About six out of 10 felt it very important that colleges and universities help elementary and high schools do a better job teaching children (63%), teach students to get along with people from different backgrounds (59%), teach students how to cope with a rapidly changing world (59%), help students develop good values and ethical positions (58%), prepare undergraduate students for graduate and professional school (57%), and discover more about the world through research (56%).

GDAIS Observations and Recommendations
The American public has great expectations of colleges and universities. Your institution can use these expectations to make your case to the general public as well as to important admissions, development, and other advancement audiences. Answer the following questions with data and examples from your institution. See that the news media, parents of prospective students, potential donors and public officials know your strength in these areas.

• How does your college prepare students for careers? What evidence do you have of their success? Which of your programs are most distinctive for enhancing career success among graduates?
  
  
• What does your college or university do to develop the leadership capacities of students? Do you measure leadership development among students? If so, what results can you provide to the media or use in your own communications? Also, describe programs that are specifically focused on developing leadership.
  
  
• Leadership carries with it the imperative of responsibility. How does your institution nurture responsibility among students? Is there an honor code? Is ethics a component of your core curriculum? How do the philosophy and practice of student government relate to the mission of the university? What examples do you have of responsible group action among students? Community service projects, now so routine as to attract little attention, provide many examples of students demonstrating responsibility.
  
  
• Improving the quality of pre-K-12 education is very important to the public. What partnerships exist between your university or college and public schools? What features make those partnerships distinctive? Do you, for example, provide free graduate tuition to teachers or your education alumni who are working in poorly funded schools? What evidence do you have that your long-term partnerships are making a difference to the schools involved?

You also need to educate your target audiences about the importance of programs and activities that the survey results demonstrated were not perceived by the public as vital or important.

• Although a liberal arts education per se was not deemed important by those surveyed, the outcomes of a liberal arts education are important to the public, although they do not know it. You must explain it. In your communications, describe what you believe is the relationship between the liberal arts and the preparation of students for successful careers and roles as responsible leaders and give examples of how your institution makes these linkages through programs.
  
  
• American adults do not see the development of international perspectives among students as a key role for colleges and universities. Yet virtually every institution has made commitments to internationalize its curriculum and related experiential programs for students. The disconnect between public opinion and the imperative felt by colleges and universities provides an excellent opportunity for presidents and others to write and place op-eds about why international education is important to the success of American society. The timing, given the tensions in America's current relations with the world community, has never been better.

There are many other ways in which the data in the Chronicle survey can be put to work helping your college achieve enrollment, development, and communications goals. GDAIS' experienced team of public relations professionals can assist you in identifying and analyzing the elements of the survey that you can best use to your advantage.

GDA Integrated Services is a market research, consulting and services firm that specializes in customized, integrated marketing solutions that help colleges and universities compete successfully for students, funding, and visibility in the twenty-first century.