Three Cues is GDA Integrated Services' free electronic newsletter. In each edition, we focus on only three items taken from our College & University Environmental Scanning (CUES) and our GDAIS research. Unlike most higher education newsletters, Three CUES often looks beyond news about colleges and universities to review greater social and marketing trends. Produced several times during the academic year, Three CUES not only provides information, but also offers observations and recommendations concerning each topic.

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Inside This Edition:

• Attracting Students of Color to Private Institutions: What the Research Tells Us
• Private Colleges Fare Well in Chronicle Poll
• Preparation for the Workforce: An Apparent College Failing
• Want to Attract More High-Achieving Students Who Are Enthusiastic About Your College?
• Another Successful Admissions Year for GDAIS Clients

We all know that Hispanics, followed by African Americans, are the fastest-growing segment of our society. The number of Hispanics between 14 and 17 years of age will have grown 16% between 2001 and 2005. The African American 14 to 17-year-old population will have grown 6% in the same period compared with only a 4% increase in Caucasians.

Interestingly, the 2004 Chronicle of Higher Education survey of public opinion, conducted by GDA Integrated Services, suggests that Hispanics may be more likely to choose a private college or university than African Americans.

As the chart below shows, when asked "If money were not an issue, would you rather have your child attend a private or public university?, " Hispanics were the most likely (51%) to say a private college or university compared with only 38% of the African Americans.

• Eight of 10 of the Hispanics interviewed -- compared with only 58% of the African Americans and 71% of the Caucasians -- said they have begun saving for their child's education.

• Perhaps not surprisingly, 24% of the Hispanics, compared with only 8% of the African Americans and 10% of the Caucasians, said it is "very important " for their children to attend a college or university affiliated with a religious denomination.

• If you have a degree-completion or a part-time adult program, you will be interested to know that 20% of the Hispanics and 18% of the African Americans surveyed, compared with only 10% of the Caucasians, expect to earn a college degree if they do not now have one.

• Despite having a somewhat lower opinion of private institutions, 19% of the African Americans hope their child will attend a private liberal arts college compared with only 6% of the Hispanics and 13% of the Caucasian respondents. Hispanics, however, were slightly more likely to say they would prefer their child attend a private university.

• Geographic diversity is far more important to African Americans. Nearly half (49%) of the African Americans compared with only 37% of the Hispanics and 34% of the Caucasians said "enrolling students from all parts of the country " was a very important role for a college or university to perform.

Observations and Recommendations
The Chronicle data suggest that private colleges and universities are in a relatively strong position with African Americans and Hispanics, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. GDA Integrated Services knows that getting students of color to actually enroll at a primarily white college is a complicated process. Annually, GDA Integrated Services surveys thousands of students of color about their preferences in a college. For example, we know that Asians are the most interested in a prestigious institution, while African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to attend a college that really seems to want them to enroll.

African Americans and Hispanics are far more likely than Caucasians or Asians to prefer a course catalog over a viewbook from the admissions office. African-American parents are far more likely to read materials from colleges of interest to their child than are Hispanic parents (Not at all surprising, but useful to have confirmed.). We suspect this is because of language difficulties. Yet Asian parents are the most involved in their child's search for a college.

GDA Integrated Services offers a one-day workshop customized for your institution on "Preparing for the 21st Century Student: Attracting Diverse Racial Groups."

Next to the military, the public has the greatest confidence in private colleges and universities, according to the 2004 public opinion survey conducted for the Chronicle of Higher Education by GDA Integrated Services. Nearly half of the 1,000 respondents (48%) said they have a great deal of confidence in four-year private colleges and universities. Private colleges and universities were followed by churches, with 44% expressing a great deal of confidence. Community colleges with 41% and four-year public colleges and universities with 40% were in fourth and fifth place respectively.

• Nearly half of the respondents (46%) said "private colleges " when asked if they think in general the quality of education is better at private or public colleges and universities with only 13% answering "public." Three of 10 said they were about the same.

• Nearly half (47%) said "private " when asked "if money were not an issue, would you rather have your child attend a private or public college or university? " About two of 10 (21%) answered "public " and 28% said it didn't matter.

• Six of 10 of respondents who had a college degree said they were very satisfied with their college education. Yet seven of 10 of those who attended a small private, liberal arts college said they were very satisfied with their college experience compared with six of 10 who attended private universities, 57% who attended large public flagship, and 59% who attended smaller regional public institutions

• The Chronicle survey also gave insight into the age-old question of "who earns more, a private or a public college graduate? "

Observations and Recommendations
Private colleges and universities still "own " the quality niche, but public institutions are not that far behind. With private colleges' and universities' higher costs, far more independent institutions would be suffering if the independent institutions did not enjoy higher perceived quality. The key then is to present your institution as worthy of this trust by articulating what you do above and beyond the public's expectation. (We discuss this in relation to preparing graduates for the workforce below).

The public has clear expectations of the role of colleges and universities. In the Chronicle survey, we asked the 1,000 respondents what were the very important roles of colleges in our society. The partial table below should provide the public relations agenda for a college or university. The public relations office and, to a lesser extent, the admissions office should prepare and promote the many ways your institution fulfils these public expectations.

Important roles of colleges in society	Very important
Prepare its undergraduate students for a career	70%
Prepares students to be responsible citizens	67%
Prepare future leaders of our societyline graph text	66%
Provide education to adults so they qualify for better jobs	62%
Help elementary and high schools do a better job teaching children	61%
Help students develop good values and ethical positions	58%
Teach students to get along with people from different backgrounds	55%
Prepare undergraduate students for graduate or professional school	53%

Based on the Chronicle of Higher Education survey conducted by GDA Integrated Services, the public has only modest faith in higher education's ability to prepare their graduates for the workforce.

Despite their confidence in higher education overall and especially private institutions, only 5% of the respondents strongly agreed with the statement "college graduates today are well prepared for the workforce, " with an additional 54% agreeing. About four of 10 disagreed with the statement.

Observations and Recommendations
Your institution can prove the public wrong on this score. Annually GDA Integrated Services surveys hundreds of employer from around the nation. One of our questions is: What importance do they assign to a variety of skills, competencies and attributes? The table below tells us what employers say is very important in an employee.

What employers say is very important in an employee:	Very important
Works well as a team member	77%
Strong thinking and reasoning skills	76%
Has high ethical standards	75%
Writes and speaks effectively	66%
Gets along with people whose attitudes and opinions are different from his or her own	63%
Demonstrates problem solving skills	63%
Interacts well with people from racial groups or cultures different from his or her own	60%
Is a self-starter	45%
Able to set clear goals	43%
Demonstrates self confidence	40%
Has an interest in exploring new ideas or situations	33%
Has leadership skills	31%
Has strong computer skills	28%
Generates original ideas	23%
Has a broad-based general education	18%
Can apply mathematics and statistics	18%
Can apply scientific knowledge and skills	17%
Has a liberal arts education	6%
Has done independent research	2%

Note how few employers believe a liberal arts education or even a broad-based general education is very important, but many of the attributes they do find important are often derived through a liberal arts education.

Based on the GDAIS research and the Chronicle results, your college or university should begin inventorying and cataloging the many ways and opportunities for your students to gain these skills and attributes. If you are not delivering on some of the characteristics of highest importance, you might want to consider how your institution can improve in that area.

If "yes " is your answer, GDA Integrated Services' "Ideal Student Identification Process " (ISIP) provides the themes, characteristics and language that will help college-bound students see themselves at your institution while aiding the admission staff in identifying the ideal student earlier in the admissions cycle.

Want to learn more about the Ideal Student Identification Process? If so, please contact George Dehne at george@dehne.com or call him at 800-942-7427.

Excuse us if we boast a bit.

Kent Barnds, Dean for Admissions and Enrollment Management, Elizabethtown College (PA), writes:

"We have more to do, but it seems like much of what you recommended has worked for us. This year we have our largest applicant pool ever (2,951), best selectivity (64%), largest first-year class (565) and strongest yield ever (31.5%).  The best part of it all is that we have not increased our budget and we are getting great comments from families about our 'relationship-centered approach.'"

John Reynders, President, Morningside College (Sioux City,IA), writes:

"We will open this fall with 300 new students, the largest entering class in 25 years. Just to put this in perspective, my first fall we opened with about 170. We owe much of our success to GDA Integrated Services and especially Steve Cloniger who has mentored our young admissions director with amazing success."

Suzanne Liberty, Vice President for Enrollment, Clarkson University (Potsdam, NY), reports:

"GDAIS has provided extensive market research, direct mail, telerecruiting and consulting for Clarkson University and The Clarkson School for the past seven years. Their telerecruiters in particular, provide professional support for our admission efforts and have allowed us to extend our contact with thousands of prospective students to assess their interest and to invite them to and schedule their attendance at off campus interviews, receptions and open house events. The GDAIS telerecruiters are skilled admissions representatives who represent our institution well. Our relationship with GDAIS over the years has contributed significantly to Clarkson’s 15% increase in enrollment."