Higher Education

How a Technical College Boosted Enrollment by Engaging Via Text

Ohio Technical College (OTC) supercharged enrollment, pre- and post-pandemic, by keeping their potential, enrolled, and alumni populations fully engaged their way - via text message.

Keeping the student population engaged and responsive, was an important and challenging endeavor during the average year. But, the unprecedented days of the pandemic came along with a newfound need for more immediate and frequent engagement - something email alone was unable to support.

<73%

graduation rate over 6 years

83%

Engagement of 18-29 year-olds respond to texts in 15 minutes or less

>1K

Population (Perspective, Enrolled, Alumni)

Agency Wins Hometown a Hulu Show & $500K

The Challenge

When Bonnie LaCorte, VP of Student Engagement, and the admissions department at OTC reached out to current and potential students via email - they generally did not hear back.

During the pandemic, as priorities shifted day-to-day, sometimes even minute to minute, staying connected became more important than ever. Being able to reach students, staff, and administrators in real time became vital, as were timely responses. Email alone could not deliver the immediacy and convenience that had become necessary and expected.

Admissions has found that reaching students and potential students by text is the way to go. Young people don't really check emails. With texting, we get an immediate response.

Bonnie LaCorte, VP Student Engagement - Ohio Technical College

The Solution

Overcoming this challenge meant finding a reliable, affordable means of communication that would reach large groups of people fast, be read immediately, and provide a means for them to reply or respond with the same speed.

“My favorite thing about EZ Texting is that it is easy. I am not technology savvy at all. I'm able to go on, I usually use my desktop, and pull up our groups. I can send that text message out very, very quickly,” said LaCorte.

Contacts can be segmented into groups, so if there is a text message that is only relevant to welding students or classic car restoration staff, it is easy to target that message accordingly.

The Results

The ability to engage 82% of the potential and current students has greatly bolstered enrollment. Resource planning is more accurate and meaningful because the campus can be quickly polled to help gauge interest and attendance. Campus tours get booked faster through text messages that include a link to self-schedule, and keeping in close contact with Alumni is effortless. Very few people in Cleveland opt out of being the first to know about a snow day, and text messaging makes that news easy to get out, but they are free to opt out if they so choose.