As food insecurity continues to rise across New York, the State University of New York’s public service program has stepped in to address the growing need.
The SUNY Empire State Service Corps, a paid, student-driven initiative with more than 500 members, has ramped up its on-the-ground efforts in recent months.
Launched in May 2024, the group was funded with $2.75 million from the state budget and is New York’s largest AmeriCorps program. SUNY Corps students assist New York residents in high-need communities with K–12 tutoring, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and basic needs outreach, peer mental health support, sustainability projects, hate and bias prevention, nonpartisan civic engagement, and FAFSA completion.
SUNY chancellor John B. King Jr. said the program played an integral role during the federal government shutdown this fall as New York residents faced cutbacks to federal food-assistance benefits.
“The threats to the SNAP program presented a huge challenge for New York,” King said. “Many of our food pantries saw a significant uptick in usage before the shutdown, and then certainly during the shutdown as people anticipated not being able to access SNAP benefits.”
SUNY chancellor John B. King Jr. (center, in light blue shirt) joins students and staff as they pack backpacks with supplies for New York elementary students.
State University of New York at Binghamton
In response, New York governor Kathy Hochul provided $200,000 in additional funding to bring on more SUNY Corps students to help families at risk of losing aid. The funding will support the added students for the remainder of the academic year.
King said the additional paid hours were essential and allowed campuses to quickly mobilize students to support food pantries and community centers.
“Many of our students know what it’s like to be in a situation where your family finances feel incredibly fragile,” King said. “So when our students see classmates who are food insecure, who are skipping meals in order to make ends meet or who are distracted in class because they’re hungry, they worry a lot about them.”
Inside the Service Corps
SUNY Corps students dedicate at least 300 hours to paid community service and are eligible to receive an AmeriCorps Segal Education Award of up to $1,500.
“They’re from every part of the state, every socioeconomic background, every ethnic background, every faith background, and they are excited to work together to make the community better,” King said. “It’s exactly what we should be doing in higher ed, and it’s exactly what we need as a country.”
More than 500 students from 45 SUNY campuses participated in the program this year, and interest continues to outpace availability; applications exceeded campus placements by more than three to one over the last two years.
Sarah Hall, an Empire State Service Corps coordinator and senior assistant director at the State University of New York at Binghamton, said her campus received more than 200 applications for just 50 spots this year.
“Every time I talk to a student who is part of our Empire State Service Corps, you can really feel how meaningful this is to their own personal and professional growth,” Hall said. “I really think this is setting them on a path of service in their future.”
Sarah Hall, an Empire State Service Corps coordinator at SUNY Binghamton.
State University of New York at Binghamton
Following the federal government shutdown, Hall said, her students quickly mobilized a meal kit assembly effort after Hochul provided the additional funding.
“We purchased over $4,000 worth of food … so when families go to a pantry or food bank, they’re able to just pick up an entire meal that will feed a family of four,” Hall said, adding that her students put together more than 560 kits.
Beyond Binghamton, the first cohort of SUNY Corps students statewide, logged over 100,000 hours of service and served more than 70,000 New York residents during the 2024–25 program year.
“It’s a reflection that young people really want to serve and want to contribute to the community and are eager for these opportunities,” King said.
What’s Next
The chancellor said the government shutdown underscored how essential sustained investment in public service programs will be in the years ahead.
“I’d love to see federal investment in this space,” King said. “There continues to be bipartisan support for the AmeriCorps program, so my hope is that we can continue to grow national service efforts around the country.”
He noted that New York was recently selected as one of four states—along with California, Colorado and Kentucky—to join the Service Year Alliance, an inaugural cohort seeking to grow the number of paid service opportunities throughout the United States.
Looking ahead, King said the SUNY Empire State Service Corps could serve as a model for colleges and states seeking to build or expand their public service initiatives because it’s “highly replicable.”
“There’s a lot of reasons for people to feel discouraged about the health of our democracy,” King said. “But when you’re with these students who are committing 300 hours plus a year to service, it makes you quite hopeful.”
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AI isn’t the only reason new graduates can’t get a job, but it is changing the job market they’re entering. Economic uncertainty and a surplus of college graduates are contributing far more to high unemployment among young degree holders than job-thieving robots.
A recent Federal Reserve analysis showed that the unemployment gap between high school and college graduates has been narrowing since the 2008 recession and now sits at around 2.5 percentage points, down from an average of five percentage points from roughly the 1980s to early 2000s. The National Association of Colleges and Employers’ 2026 Job Outlook Survey found that employers expect hiring for the Class of 2026 to remain flat. Next year’s job market likely won’t improve for college graduates.
But even though huge corporations like Amazon, Target and Klarna say they are laying off tens of thousands of employees because of AI, they do not represent the majority of employers. Like the rest of us, most companies are still figuring out AI. In the NACE survey, nearly 59 percent of employers said they are not planning to or are unsure whether they’ll augment entry-level jobs with AI, and just 25 percent said they’re currently discussing it.
Meanwhile, in a recent Substack post, economist and CUNY Graduate Center professor Paul Krugman argued it’s too soon for AI to have such a drastic impact on unemployment for college-educated workers; instead, he blamed the crummy job market on tariffs, uncertainty in the economy and even DOGE cuts flooding the job market with laid-off, educated federal workers.
These market challenges coincide with intensifying pressure from the federal government and the general public for colleges to show that their degrees are valuable. Just this week, the Department of Education rolled out a new feature in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid alerting students if the institutions they’ve applied to produce graduates who earn less than people with just high school degrees.
While the state of the economy is out of higher education’s control, institutions should heed employer calls for graduates with real-world experience. Career-ready students will be able to adapt to the evolving world of work and see that their degrees are worth the investment. The most promising response is for colleges to embrace experiential learning.
A survey of employers released this week by the American Association of Colleges and Universities showed that college graduates who are proficient in applying knowledge to the real world and who understand teamwork are the most likely to be hired. Students agree: They cited paid internships and building stronger connections with employers as the top things colleges can do to help them get career-ready.
Focusing on work-based learning will achieve two things: get students the real-world experience employers demand and set them up for long-term economic success. The college premium may be eroding, but it persists. And while high school graduates might be getting jobs more quickly than recent college graduates, those with degrees stay employed longer once they do find jobs.
Regional economies will benefit from graduates with real-world experience, too. Students who participate in internships or apprenticeships are more likely to find local jobs after they graduate. Studies even show that underemployed graduates, those working jobs that don’t require a college degree, land in roles with higher intrinsic value—think less physical labor, more respectful treatment and better opportunities for skill development.
Some institutions are further along than others. A program at Harvey Mudd College pairs undergraduates early in their degrees with alumni around the country for summer job shadows. Others target career support to individual student groups, such as neurodiverse students and veterans. Virginia recently announced a partnership with Handshake to provide each student at a public institution at least one form of work-based learning in an effort to keep talent in the state. And the Delaware Workforce Development Board gave the University of Delaware’s Lerner College of Business and Economics a grant to create a yearlong co-op program with businesses across the state, partly to “keep homegrown talent here in Delaware,” the chair of the board said.
The economic forces impacting the job market aren’t going away, and neither is AI’s transformational influence on how work gets done. The solution for colleges is simple: Students need real-world experience and employers are explicit about wanting to hire graduates who have it. Colleges must start building employer relationships and embedding experiential learning into the curriculum now. The institutions that get it right will be the ones whose graduates never question the value of their degree.
Sara Custer is editor in chief at inside Higher Ed.
President Trump signed an executive order in April to reform accreditation.
Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Reforming the accreditation process has been a key focus for the Trump administration. Officials from the Education Department reinforced that Wednesday when they announced a request for information to solicit public feedback on updating the accreditation handbook.
The aim, the department said in a news release, is to reduce “unduly burdensome and bureaucratic requirements” and increase “transparency and efficiency.”
“Instead of driving high-quality programs that better serve students, the antiquated accreditation system has led to inflated tuition costs and fees, administrative bloat, and ideology-driven initiatives at colleges across the country,” Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education David Barker said. “We are excited to receive feedback on how best to update the Handbook, streamline guidance, and eliminate bureaucratic headaches for accrediting agencies and associations.”
The request falls in line with an April executive order to “reform and strengthen” the accreditation system. It also comes less than a week before the next meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, the group that weighs in on accreditation issues and reviews accrediting agencies.
The department is planning to draft new rules and regulations for accreditors sometime next year.
Commenters will have 45 days to provide feedback on the following questions:
What policies or standards are encouraging innovation or reducing college costs within the postsecondary education sector and should be retained in or added to the new version of the handbook?
How can the handbook be designed to be less burdensome?
Is the handbook serving its intended purpose?
How can it better assist accrediting agencies and associations in evaluating the quality of educational institutions and programs or in applying for federal recognition?
How could accreditation standards be updated to incentivize intellectual diversity on campus?
What guidance or standards, if any, can the handbook provide to institutions and programs to help achieve this goal?
What methods should be incorporated into the handbook to determine appropriate assessment benchmarks, and what data sources or validation methods could be used to ensure those benchmarks reflect student competency?
Governor-elect Spanberger will now get to select 22 board members.
Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty Images
The legal battle over whether Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin’s university board appointees will take their seats is over after a judge set a trial for 2026, Virginia Business reported. Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger will assume office next month, rendering the lawsuit moot.
The case will be dismissed, shutting down an effort to install the Republican governor’s board picks, many of whom had previously worked for or donated to the GOP and were rejected by Virginia Democrats. Now Spanberger, a Democrat, will be able to name 22 board members that otherwise would have been appointed by Youngkin, giving her the opportunity to shift the political balance of boards away from the right.
Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares had sought to expedite the legal fight by asking Virginia’s Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling that determined that blocked board picks could not take their seats. Youngkin has argued the board appointments must be rejected by the full Senate, not just the Democrat-led Privileges and Elections Committee, which voted down multiple picks.
Spanberger and state Democrats are expected to quickly fill multiple vacancies that have left boards hobbled, including at George Mason University, which does not have a quorum. GMU’s board met recently, despite the lack of a quorum and legal questions about their ability to do so.
Youngkin’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Inside Higher Ed.
SUMS Consulting will host a webinar from 11:00 to 12:00 on Thursday 22 January 2026. The webinar will include a walkthrough of the report and online tool, and panel discussion featuring Nick Hillman OBE (Director of HEPI). Register here.
This blog, kindly authored by Thomas Owen-Smith, Principal Consultant at SUMS Consulting, and William Phillips, Data Analyst at SUMS Consulting, is part of a three-part mini series on UK universities’ approaches to land use.
2025 sees many higher education institutions looking for innovative approaches to rebalance their profile of income and costs.
Universities’ estates might offer the potential to save hundreds of millions of pounds on energy costs through harnessing the sun and wind, as well as opportunities to play a role in the local and regional systems that will play an important role in the UK’s energy transition.
Local and regional connectivity through infrastructure also brings opportunities around education, skills and jobs, as well as applied research, industry partnership and knowledge exchange. These offer means for institutions to nourish relationships with their local communities, with positive impacts on public opinion and consent around universities’ legitimacy and the public goods they bring to society.
We have also explored opportunities around afforestation and the natural capital value of ecosystem services supplied by UK universities’ lands – which stands separate to the commercial land value. (And there are many additional opportunities which we did not have time to investigate in detail).
Again, many institutions have already taken steps (in some cases over many years) around the opportunities outlined. Our mapping of sector land usecannot pick up these existing examples, but we have referred to some accessible cases in the report.
We hope the insights of this work can help individual institutions which may not yet have engaged with these questions to understand their initial option space, opening the track to more detailed investigation; and support the higher education sector and policymakers to have more informed conversations about what these options may mean for decisions and guidance at the aggregate or whole-sector level.
Using our mapping tool, institutions can explore the potential of their estates for solar and wind energy generation, as well as suitability for broadleaf forest growth.
These opportunities vary across the country according to latitude, topography, aspect and a range of local conditions and constraints. We used an assumptions-based approach, referring to sector-wide averages, to model the potential aggregate impacts of sector-wide uptake (noting that some institutions have already done this).
If 10% of universities’ built land were equipped with solar energy installations, this could generate an estimated 208,826 megawatt-hours (mWh) per year. This would equate to around 2.9% of the sector’s total energy usage in 2022/23 (as reported by 135 institutions in the Estates Management Record). Based on current commercial unit rates for energy, this could achieve an annual saving of around £42 million on energy bills. It would also abate in the region of 47,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) annually, representing around 3.3% of the sector’s reported scope 1 and 2 emissions in 2022/23.
If 10% of universities’ grassland was used for solar power generation, this could generate an estimated 189,360 mWh per year. This would achieve energy savings, financial savings and abatement of carbon emissions of a similar, slightly smaller magnitude than the estimates just above for built land.If the same percentage was used for wind generation, this could generate an estimated 19,920 mWh per year. This would achieve energy-saving, financial and carbon abatement benefits of roughly 10% the size of those set out for solar opportunities.
Using carbon flux factors extrapolated from the UK Natural Capital Accounts, we also estimated the annual carbon sequestration of the university sector’s (core) estate as 3,162 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) per year. If 10% of universities’ grasslands were put to forests, this could sequester an estimated 571 tCO2e per year of greenhouse gases over a 40-year period, increasing carbon drawdown by around 18% annually.
Although the potential carbon impacts would be smaller than those around renewable energy, afforestation would bring positive impacts for nature, biodiversity and the sector’s natural capital.
Our natural capital calculations are based on a value transfer approach, which extrapolates generalised national-level data (also from the UK Natural Capital Accounts) to a local area based on the assumed ecosystem services supplied by one unit of land (typically hectares).
We estimate the asset value of ecosystem services (including renewable electricity provisioning, water provisioning, air pollution regulating, greenhouse gas regulating, noise regulating, and recreation health benefits) provided by UK institutions’ lands at £248.5m. Of this, £147.4m (59.3%) is provided by built environment, £54.9m (22.1%) is provided by grass, £43.3m (17.5%) is provided by trees and £2.9m (1.2%) is provided by water. This is likely an underestimation.
Why this matters for universities
The way that we use land is a critical part of securing a sustainable future for the planet. In global terms, land use is a key driver of climate change and degradation of nature; but it can also be a solution to reversing these.
There already exist both regulatory and market-based frameworks which reflect various dimensions of the value of natural capital and ecosystem services.
Partially due to concerns around the credibility of commercial offsetting schemes, some universities have turned to approaches for carbon sequestration or “insetting” on their own lands, which allow for easier assurance and impact evaluation. We refer to some examples in the report.
While still emergent, these developments represent attempts to account for the true value of nature and the cost of destroying it (which traditional accounting and financial systems fail to do effectively) and may bring new economic opportunities around the stewardship of nature and natural resources.
The new report Rethinking Student Voice: How higher education must design effective student governance (HEPI Report 195), written by Darcie Jones exposes a key issue within university governance: the marginalisation of student governors.
With financial pressures intensifying across the sector, thee stakes for effective governance have never been higher. Yet, despite being core stakeholders within universities, many students on governing boards feel sidelined by opaque processes and exclusive norms. The evidence within this report reveals a persistent gap between symbolic representation and meaningful participation.
However it’s not all bad news, the report also highlights what is possible when the student voice is taken seriously. Using examples of effective practice it demonstrates the transformation value of empowered student governance.
Drawing on extensive evidence and sector insights, the report sets out clear, actionable reforms – from accessible governance culture, to improved recruitment, induction and development. They provide a pathway from why student perspectives and voices can be embedded at the heart of decision-making within universities.
The Priorities Survey for Online Learners (PSOL) is the instrument in the Satisfaction-Priorities Survey family that best reflects the unique experiences of students in online two-year and four-year programs, including at the graduate level. The Priorities Survey for Online Learners provides the perspectives of online students aside external national benchmarks to inform decision-making for 150 institutions across the country.
It is critical to understand the full experience of online students who may have limited interactions with the institution, and the Priorities Survey for Online Learners allows leadership to know what matters to their online students in both their academic and non-academic interactions. Students respond on items related to instructional, enrollment, academic and enrollment services along with their general perceptions of the institution. This broad view provides direction to campus leaders to be able to best serve what may be a growing population for the institution. Online students indicate a level of importance and satisfaction with just over two dozen items.
The combination of satisfaction and importance scores identifies strengths (areas of high importance and high satisfaction) to be celebrated and challenges (areas of high importance and low satisfaction) to be improved. Along with the external national comparison data specific to online students published annually, institutions can compare their students’ perceptions internally over time with annual or every-other-year administrations. In addition, the provided reporting gives institutions the opportunity to review their data for demographic subpopulations to focus initiatives appropriately.
All students enrolled in online programs, undergraduate and graduate alike, can be invited to complete the Priorities Survey for Online Learners. Like the Student Satisfaction Inventory and the Adult Student Priorities Survey (the other survey instruments in the Satisfaction-Priorities family), the data gathered by the survey can support multiple initiatives on campus including to inform student success efforts, to provide the student voice for strategic planning, to document priorities for accreditation purposes, and to highlight positive messaging for recruitment activities. Student satisfaction has been positively linked with higher individual student retention and higher institutional graduation rates, getting right to the heart of higher education student success.
“Having an independent organization with a well-known brand provide the student perspective is hugely important to us. The data is valued by our Board of directors and by our accrediting organizations. It shows how we are performing when it comes to institutions that are similar to us,” said Ada Uche, director of assessment and institutional effectiveness at Colorado Technical University (CO) about their regular administration of the Priorities Survey for Online Learners.
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As we head into the holidays, I’ve been thinking about this year and what we accomplished, what we learned, and most importantly, the people who made it all possible. When I look back, I’m reminded just how proud I am of the work we do and the impact it creates for institutions and the students they serve.
It’s easy to focus on the numbers — enrollments up, goals met, projects launched. And those metrics certainly matter. They reflect the hard work of our team and the trust of our partners. But behind every dashboard, there’s something far more meaningful.
This fall, a student accepted to the University of Scranton wrote to our enrollment specialists: “Thank you for all the care that goes into this process. I truly appreciate the time, attention, and effort you and the admissions team put into reviewing my application… receiving my acceptance means so much to me.”
Messages like this hit home. Because this is what we’re helping build: pathways for students who are ready to learn, grow, and change their lives. And everything we do — every data integration, every marketing campaign, every phone call, every technology issue resolved — is in service of that outcome.
In 2025, we helped more students find those pathways.
Institutions we support saw steady, year-over-year enrollment growth across every major term. At the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), new student enrollments grew by more than 5% over the previous year — a meaningful lift for an institution focused on driving innovation and access.
Places like Montclair State University and the MGH Institute of Health Professions didn’t just hit targets, they surpassed them (in some cases by more than 20%). At George Washington University, summer enrollments surged 81%; a testament to the power of coordinated outreach and student-centered strategy.
Every success was the result of deep collaboration, thoughtful execution, and shared belief in what’s possible. Our creative team helped Babson College capture the story of its graduate programs in ways that resonate with students. Our tech teams kept critical systems running smoothly and securely. Our enrollment specialists showed up each day with empathy, clarity, and care.
Behind the scenes, our IT Managed Services team played a vital role in making outcomes possible. The things they accomplished this year — stabilizing systems at Utica, launching a new guest wireless experience at Dominican University, modernizing infrastructure at Missouri Baptist University, and integrating critical platforms for Joyce University, to name a few — translated directly into stronger security, reduced costs, and smoother experiences for students and staff alike.
A standout initiative at Agnes Scott College introduced career-aligned digital credentials through Canvas, giving students a new way to showcase their skills to employers while deepening engagement with academic pathways. These efforts may be less visible, but their impact is undeniable.
None of this happens without our people. The Collegis team continues to lead with grit, heart, and a relentless focus on results. Their work is complex, often behind the scenes, and always in pursuit of something bigger than themselves.
That collective effort continues to build something meaningful:
Stronger institutions. More resilient systems. Smarter strategies. And above all, more opportunities for students to thrive.
So as we all begin to wind down for the holidays, I hope this season offers us all a chance to pause, recharge, and take pride in the progress made and the impact created.
—Kim
Kim Fahey is President and CEO of Collegis Education, where she leads strategy, operations, and growth to help higher education institutions leverage data, technology, and talent to achieve measurable outcomes. Since joining Collegis in 2014, Kim has played a pivotal role in scaling the company and evolving it into a premier higher ed solutions provider. A transformative leader with deep experience in technology and operations, she is passionate about driving innovation, building high-performing teams, and delivering exceptional results for Collegis partners.
In today’s highly competitive education landscape, schools at every level, from K–12 academies to public universities, must embrace modern, digital-first marketing strategies to attract and retain students. The era of relying solely on word-of-mouth or physical brochures is long gone. Today’s families and prospective students are browsing school websites, scrolling through social media, and watching virtual campus tours before they fill out an inquiry form or attend an open house.
To stay relevant and competitive in 2025 and beyond, schools need to meet their audiences where they are: online. That means showing up with targeted, compelling content and a clearly articulated value proposition. This is especially true for private and independent institutions, where high tuition fees and rising parental expectations demand a more persuasive, proactive approach to enrollment marketing.
So, how can your school stand out in an increasingly crowded space?
In this article, we break down 10 of the most effective marketing strategies for schools, with a strong emphasis on digital tactics. From strengthening your web presence to leveraging alumni stories and optimizing for SEO, these proven approaches help build awareness, trust, and engagement. Each strategy includes real-world examples from schools and colleges around the world to inspire your next campaign.
Whether you’re marketing a small language institute or a large university, these strategies are adaptable to your goals and designed to drive results.
Struggling with enrollment and retention?
Our innovative marketing strategies can help you generate more leads.
1. Understand Your Audience and Craft Your Message
A strong school marketing strategy begins with clarity: who exactly are you trying to reach, and what do they need to hear from you? Whether you’re a K–12 school or a higher ed institution, knowing your audience inside and out is essential. That means digging deeper than just age or location. Consider their priorities, concerns, motivations, and communication preferences.
Creating audience personas helps bring these insights to life. Is your ideal family looking for academic rigor, a supportive community, or flexible scheduling? Are your prospective students career changers seeking fast-track credentials, or teens drawn to innovation and student life? When you define who you’re speaking to, you can tailor your messaging to resonate and avoid generic outreach that falls flat.
Your next step is to articulate your school’s unique value proposition. What makes you different? Highlight that core message consistently across all channels. For some schools, it might be small class sizes and a nurturing environment. For others, it could be career outcomes, cutting-edge labs, or global learning opportunities.
Finally, data can deepen your understanding of your audience. Track behavior, segment leads, and personalize your outreach accordingly. The more relevant your message, the more likely it is to convert.
Example:Oregon State University (OSU). OSU’s enrollment team uses a CRM (Slate) to segment prospective students by factors like academic interests, intended majors, and geographic location. This lets OSU deliver tailored messages to each audience segment. For example, sharing engineering content with STEM-interested prospects or inviting nearby students to local events. By defining clear audience personas and emphasizing OSU’s unique offerings (like its “Beaver Nation” community and research opportunities) in communications, OSU ensures its outreach resonates more and converts better than one-size-fits-all marketing.
In a nutshell, how do you create a marketing strategy for a school? A strong school marketing strategy starts by defining your goals and audience, then clarifying your unique value proposition. Choose the right channels: website, SEO, social media, email, events, etc., all while keeping messaging consistent. Implement your plan, track performance with analytics, and adjust as needed to improve enrollment results.
2. Turn Your Website into a Top-Performing Recruiter
Your school’s website is more than just a digital brochure. It’s your hardest-working recruiter, available 24/7. In most cases, it’s the first real impression you make on prospective students and their families. If it’s outdated, hard to navigate, or slow to load, visitors may bounce before they ever reach your inquiry form. On the other hand, a fast, intuitive, and compelling site can drive real results: inquiries, campus visit bookings, and applications.
To make your website enrollment-friendly, focus on these key areas:
Navigation and user experience: Make it easy for visitors to find what matters most: admissions, tuition, programs, and deadlines, within one or two clicks. Prioritize clarity and mobile optimization, since the majority of users now browse on their phones.
Engaging content: Use vibrant photos, student stories, and program highlights to showcase your school’s personality and value. Don’t just state facts; tell stories that build emotional connection.
Clear CTAs: Every page should lead users to the next step, whether it’s “Book a Tour” or “Start Your Application.” Make buttons visible, and forms short and intuitive.
SEO and visibility: Build search-friendly content using keywords like “STEM high school Toronto” or “MBA in Montreal.” This boosts your visibility when families search online.
Example:South Seattle College. This college launched a fully redesigned, mobile-responsive website to serve as a “24/7 digital front door” for prospective students. The new site features simplified navigation (with intuitive menus and audience-specific landing pages), fast load times, and engaging content like student stories and virtual tour videos. Key information: admissions steps, programs, costs etc., is now accessible within one or two clicks. After the revamp, South Seattle College saw improved user engagement and more inquiries, validating that an optimized website can effectively guide visitors from interest to application.
3. Meet Students Where They Scroll: Social Media Engagement
If you’re wondering how to effectively reach today’s students, social media is your answer. Teenagers, young adults, and even their parents spend hours every day scrolling through platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. That’s why a modern marketing strategy for schools must go beyond occasional polished posts. It also requires consistent, authentic, and engaging content that brings your school community to life online.
Social media allows prospective students to virtually experience your school before they set foot on campus. They can witness student life, explore your values, and interact with your team through comments and DMs. It’s a space where schools can showcase achievements, run virtual events, answer questions, and create lasting impressions, all within the platforms students already use. Social media engagement fosters emotional connection, builds trust, and nudges prospective students closer to applying.
Here are some proven tactics to strengthen your social media presence:
Student Takeovers: Give students the reins of your Instagram or TikTok for a day to showcase a “real life” perspective of your campus.
Interactive Campaigns: Launch challenges, quizzes, or hashtag contests to generate user content and boost engagement.
Alumni & Academic Outcomes: Share stories of success to inspire and build credibility with prospective students and their families.
Paid Targeted Ads: Reach niche audiences with specific messaging using Facebook, YouTube, or TikTok ad campaigns.
Responsive Community Management: Monitor comments and messages daily. Prompt, friendly responses go a long way in reinforcing your school’s reputation.
Above all, be authentic. Today’s students crave realness. A spontaneous student dorm tour recorded on a phone often outperforms a high-production video. Showcasing your campus culture in a way that’s natural and not overly scripted can drive stronger connections and higher conversions.
Example:Randolph-Macon Academy (R-MA). This college-prep boarding school brings campus life directly to student prospects through interactive social media campaigns. On Instagram, R-MA runs “Takeover Tuesday” events where a student cadet literally “takes over” the school’s Story for the day, posting candid glimpses of classes, dorm life, and activities. This unfiltered, student-eye view generates high engagement from peers. R-MA also leverages LinkedIn to celebrate outcomes with a recent post that 100% of its senior class earned college acceptances and over $15 million in scholarships. By showcasing real student experiences and achievements on the platforms teens (and their parents) already use, R-MA humanizes its brand and builds trust.
4. Bring Your Campus to Their Couch: Virtual Tours and Online Events
For many families, a campus visit is a pivotal moment in the school decision process. It’s their chance to imagine themselves in your hallways, dorms, and classrooms. But not every prospective student can visit in person, whether due to distance, cost, or scheduling. This is where virtual tours and online events come into play, offering an immersive, flexible way to connect with your audience.
Virtual campus tours can now offer interactive 360° experiences that let students “walk” the grounds from their laptop or phone. These tours help build familiarity and emotional connection, especially for international or out-of-state students who might otherwise never see your campus. To boost engagement, add clickable info points, video testimonials, or even voiceover guides.
Online events like virtual open houses or themed webinars allow families to meet admissions teams, ask questions, and hear directly from current students, all from home. They not only replicate key elements of in-person experiences but also allow for on-demand access after the event.
Example:Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU). ENMU launched an upgraded 360° virtual tour that lets prospective students explore the campus from anywhere in the world. This immersive tour includes interactive 360° views of key locations (from dorms to labs), pop-up info points with photos/videos of traditions, and even student-narrated segments sharing personal stories. A voiceover guide leads viewers through the experience, making it feel like an actual guided tour. ENMU’s chancellor noted the virtual tour “makes a potential student feel like they are on campus” and has become invaluable for out-of-state and international recruits. The tour’s engaging features (clickable videos, student testimonials embedded at certain stops) have driven higher web engagement and helped ENMU widen its reach beyond those able to visit in person.
5. Let Video Tell Your Story: Content Marketing That Connects
There’s a reason platforms like YouTube, Instagram Reels, and TikTok dominate attention spans. Video provides an immersive, emotional, and memorable experience. For schools trying to reach prospective students and families, video marketing is one of the most powerful tools available. Whether it’s showcasing campus energy, highlighting academic strengths, or sharing personal student journeys, video content brings your story to life in a way text and photos simply can’t.
To make the most of this format, consider these video types:
Campus Tour Highlights: Condense your full tour into a 2–3 minute walkthrough with student narration. Post it on your homepage and YouTube channel for first-time visitors.
Student Testimonials and Success Stories: Capture authentic, unscripted interviews with students or alumni. These peer voices create trust and make your school’s impact tangible.
Faculty and Program Spotlights: Let your passionate educators shine. A quick feature on a robotics project or an art studio session can attract students with similar interests.
Event Recaps: Turn school events into fast-paced highlight reels for Instagram and Facebook. It shows your community is vibrant and active.
Explainer Videos: Break down complex topics, like admissions or financial aid, into short, helpful animations or on-camera guides.
Authenticity beats polish. Videos filmed on smartphones by students or “vlog ambassadors” can feel more relatable than professional productions. Consistent content, especially when optimized with keywords on YouTube, also improves discoverability in search.
Example: Academy of Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences (AAPS, Canada). AAPS relies heavily on short-form video content to showcase student life and outcomes viscerally. The college regularly produces “Student Success Story” videos – for example, a 2-minute clip of an alum describing how AAPS training led to their new career in clinical research. It also shares behind-the-scenes footage of lab sessions and student projects on its YouTube channel and Instagram. These authentic clips (often featuring actual students and instructors) put a human face on AAPS’s programs and build credibility.
In short, video marketing allows your school to connect emotionally and visually with prospective students, meeting them where they already spend time. If you want to advertise in a way that engages and inspires, video is essential.
6. Be There 24/7 with Smart Chatbots and Live Chat
Imagine a student browsing your website at midnight, wondering, “Does this college offer scholarships for international students?” If no one’s there to answer, that potential lead might bounce and never return. This is where chatbots and live chat tools step in, transforming your website into a 24/7 support hub.
Modern AI-powered chatbots go far beyond basic FAQ responses. They’re now capable of delivering personalized answers based on user input, guiding visitors to the right pages, and capturing lead information in real time. In fact, some bots can handle up to 80% of standard inquiries, freeing your admissions team to focus on complex cases or high-touch prospects.
Schools use chatbots to address questions about tuition, program options, campus life, deadlines, and more. Better still, if a query goes beyond the bot’s programming, it can prompt a human follow-up, keeping the conversation going instead of losing the lead.
Live chat is another powerful layer. Having staff available during business hours to chat in real time, whether on your site or via Messenger, feels like having a front-desk greeter online. Quick answers build trust and reduce friction in the inquiry process.
Example:Arlington Central School District (New York). This K–12 district rolled out an AI virtual assistant named “AlwaysOn – Admiral Al” across all its school websites to ensure families can get information anytime. The friendly chatbot (branded with the high school’s mascot) offers 24/7 multilingual support, answering common questions about programs, enrollment procedures, event schedules, and more in English or Spanish. If the question is too specific, “Admiral Al” even lets the user submit an email query right within the chat, guaranteeing a human follow-up by the next business day. The district implemented this tool to improve customer service for busy parents and saw immediate benefits – families could instantly find out, say, how to register a new student or the date of graduation, without calling the office.
To make your chatbot successful, keep it friendly and transparent (let users know it’s a virtual assistant), program it with up-to-date FAQs, and offer a handoff to a real person when needed. For international recruitment, consider a multilingual bot to expand your global accessibility.
Ultimately, integrating chatbot and live chat tools into your school’s marketing strategy ensures you never miss a lead because of timing. Today’s students expect immediate answers. With the right tools, your school can be ready.
7. Leverage Testimonials and Reviews (Let Your Community Do the Talking)
Word-of-mouth has long been a trusted marketing strategy for schools, and in today’s digital world, it has taken on new forms, testimonials, reviews, and social proof. These are powerful tools that lend credibility to your school’s messaging by showing that real families and students have had positive experiences.
Start by gathering testimonials from students and parents. A few genuine quotes or short videos can build trust quickly. Display these across your website, especially on admissions pages and brochures. A heartfelt statement like, “After enrolling here, my daughter blossomed academically and socially,” resonates more than polished ad copy.
In parallel, encourage online reviews on platforms like Google or Facebook. Higher ratings improve visibility and ease prospective families’ doubts. Politely prompt current families to share feedback after positive experiences, such as school events or parent meetings.
Social media also plays a role. Repost authentic student or alumni praise, and consider launching hashtags to gather testimonials organically.
Example:Discovery Community College (Canada). This career college amplifies positive word-of-mouth by actively sharing student reviews on social media. For example, Discovery CC monitors its Google Reviews, and when a 5-star review comes in, the marketing team creates an Instagram post thanking the student by name and highlighting their feedback. One such post reads: “Thank you for your wonderful Google review, Jessi! We’re glad you had an amazing experience training to be a health care assistant!” – accompanied by a screenshot of the review. By publicly celebrating real student voices, the college not only boosts morale but also provides authentic social proof to prospective students scrolling by.
Letting your community advocate for you builds trust faster than any ad campaign, and it costs nothing.
8. Nurture Leads with Email Marketing and Personal Touches
What is the best marketing for independent schools? Independent schools succeed with targeted, budget-friendly inbound marketing. The best approach is a strong online presence: a content-rich, search-optimized website, active social media that highlights student life, and helpful emails or blogs that build trust. These tactics attract the right families and strengthen community engagement.
Once an inquiry is made, the follow-up becomes mission-critical. One of the most effective marketing strategies for schools includes consistent, personalized nurturing, especially through email and SMS.
Email remains a powerful tool when tailored. Instead of generic blasts, use segmentation to send relevant content. For instance, a prospect interested in Nursing should receive a series featuring faculty profiles, student success in healthcare, and clinical placement details. Someone focused on Athletics? Highlight sports facilities, team achievements, and balancing academics with sports.
Drip campaigns work best: Day 1, a welcome email; Day 3, value-focused content; Day 7, a testimonial or event invite. Marketing automation tools like HubSpot or Mailchimp make this scalable and adaptive based on user behavior.
Complement email with timely SMS reminders for events or deadlines. Use sparingly for impact.
Finally, add a personal touch. A call or handwritten note after a campus visit or audition can leave a lasting impression. These gestures build trust and demonstrate care, key ingredients in a family’s final decision. Effective nurturing turns interest into action and inquiries into enrollments.
Example:University of South Carolina (USC). USC’s admissions team adds a decidedly personal touch to lead nurturing by picking up the phone to congratulate admitted students. These informal chats help admitted students feel valued and give them a chance to voice any concerns. USC also involves faculty and current students in the follow-up process; for instance, an admitted engineering major might get an email or call from an engineering professor or student ambassador.
9. Host Events (On-Campus and Virtual) That Educate and Inspire
Hosting well-crafted events is one of the most effective ways to turn interest into enrollment. On-campus events like open houses and shadow days allow families to experience your community firsthand. Keep them interactive, offer student-led tours, informal chats with faculty, and performances to showcase school spirit. These real-world interactions make your school more memorable.
Virtual events also carry weight, especially for international or out-of-town prospects. Live webinars, themed Q&A panels, and online workshops let families connect from anywhere. Consider sessions like “How to Write a Great Application Essay” or alumni panels sharing career outcomes.
Each event is also a content opportunity. Record webinars, collect quotes, and share visuals across your channels. Personalized follow-ups (“Thanks for attending, here’s what’s next”) help nurture those leads further.
Example:University of North Texas (UNT). UNT offers an array of admissions events designed to welcome and inform prospective students, including both in-person programs and online sessions. One flagship initiative is the UNT Admissions Webinar Series – live virtual information sessions “designed just for students who haven’t applied yet.” These free webinars walk attendees through what makes UNT unique, tips on the application process, and key deadlines, all from the comfort of home. Admissions counselors appear on camera to answer questions in real time, so participants leave with personalized info and confidence about next steps. For those who can visit campus, UNT also hosts large open-house events like “UNT Preview,” a conference-style open day with academic fairs, tours, and even an on-site Application Station where students can apply and get the fee waived.
10. Showcase Outcomes and Alumni Success (Paint the Long-Term Picture)
When families invest in an education, whether paying private tuition or college fees, they want proof that it leads to success. That’s why one of the most compelling marketing strategies for schools is to showcase outcomes. You’re not just selling a school experience; you’re selling what it makes possible.
For K–12 and college-prep institutions, highlight metrics like college acceptance rates and scholarship totals. Randolph-Macon Academy (R-MA), for example, proudly advertises a 100% college acceptance rate and over $15 million in scholarship offers for its 2025 graduates. That kind of evidence quickly signals ROI to prospective families.
Example:Randolph-Macon Academy (R-MA). R-MA prominently advertises its student outcomes to give families confidence in the long-term ROI of its program. For example, the academy proudly announced that 100% of its Class of 2025 earned college acceptances, collectively securing over $15 million in scholarships and 18 appointments to prestigious U.S. Service Academies. This kind of outcome data is highlighted on R-MA’s website and social media, signaling to prospective parents that an R-MA education leads to tangible success. The school also regularly publishes lists of colleges and universities its graduates attend (Ivies, top public universities, military academies, etc.), and shares alumni spotlights – like profiles of graduates who have become pilots, doctors, or entrepreneurs. By showcasing these results, R-MA helps future students (and their parents) visualize their own potential trajectory and trust that the tuition investment will pay off in opportunities.
Vocational or language schools should spotlight relevant results: job placement rates, certifications earned, or skill development gains.
Don’t just rely on stats. Share alumni stories that reflect diverse paths: scientists, entrepreneurs, activists, artists. Feature them on your blog or social channels, and invite them to participate in webinars or info sessions.
On your website, dedicate a section to “Success After Graduation,” including employer logos, testimonials, or infographics. And use social media to celebrate alumni news. These stories build credibility, trust, and vision, which help future students imagine their path through your school.
Turning Strategy into Enrollment Success
In today’s dynamic and competitive education landscape, schools can no longer rely on traditional tactics or word-of-mouth alone. To thrive, they need a strategic, student-centric marketing approach that speaks to modern families across digital platforms. The ten strategies outlined in this article, from optimizing your website and leveraging social media to showcasing alumni outcomes, offer a blueprint for schools to increase visibility, build trust, and convert interest into enrollment.
Whether you’re a K–12 academy, career college, language school, or university, the key is to meet prospective students where they are, communicate your unique value clearly, and guide them confidently through their decision-making journey. When implemented with authenticity and consistency, these strategies not only help fill seats, they strengthen your school’s brand and foster lasting relationships with students and families. In short, great marketing helps the right students find their right-fit school.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Question: How do you create a marketing strategy for a school?
Answer: A strong school marketing strategy starts by defining your goals and audience, then clarifying your unique value proposition. Choose the right channels: website, SEO, social media, email, events, etc., all while keeping messaging consistent. Implement your plan, track performance with analytics, and adjust as needed to improve enrollment results.
Question: What is the best marketing for independent schools?
Answer: Independent schools succeed with targeted, budget-friendly inbound marketing. The best approach is a strong online presence: a content-rich, search-optimized website, active social media that highlights student life, and helpful emails or blogs that build trust. These tactics attract the right families and strengthen community engagement.
by Jackie Mader, The Hechinger Report December 10, 2025
Close to 40,000 foreign-born child care workers have been driven out of the profession in the wake of the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation and detainment efforts, according to a new study by the Better Life Lab at the think tank New America. That represents about 12 percent of the foreign-born child care workforce.
Child care workers with at least a two-year college degree are most likely to be leaving the workforce, as well as workers who are from Mexico, a demographic targeted by ICE, or those who work in center-based care, the left-leaning think tank found. The disruption has worsened an already deep shortage of child care staffers, threatening the stability of the industry and in turn is contributing to tens of thousands of U.S.-born mothers dropping out of the labor market because they don’t have reliable child care.
In addition to workers facing detainment or deportation, many people are staying home to avoid situations where they may encounter Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the report found. Agents are detaining people who have not traditionally been the focus of ICE actions, including those following legal pathways like asylum seekers and green card applicants. Child care centers were once considered “sensitive locations” exempt from ICE enforcement, but the White House rescinded that in January. In at least one example, a child care worker was detained while arriving for work at a child care program.
“What’s different now is the ferocity of the enforcement,” said Chris Herbst, a professor at Arizona State University’s School of Public Affairs and one of the authors of the report, in an interview with The Hechinger Report. “ICE is arresting far more people, the number of deportations has risen dramatically,” he added. “People are scared out of their minds.”
Related: Young children have unique needs and providing the right care can be a challenge. Our free early childhood education newsletter tracks the issues.
America has long relied on immigrants to fill hard-to-staff caregiving positions and enable parents to work. Across the country, around 1 in 5 child care workers is an immigrant. In Florida and New York, immigrants account for nearly 40 percent of the child care workforce. One study that compared native-born and immigrant child care workers found that nearly 64 percent of immigrants had a two- or four-year college degree, compared to 53 percent of native-born workers. The study also noted that immigrant workers are more likely than native-born workers to have child development associate credentials and to invest in professional development activities.
Overall, the child care industry supports more than $152 billion in economic activity.
In Wisconsin, Elaine, the director of a child care center, said her program has benefited greatly from a Ukrainian immigrant who has been teaching there for two years, ever since arriving in the United States as part of a humanitarian parole program. (The Hechinger Report is not using Elaine’s last name or the city where her child care center is located because she fears action by immigration enforcement.) Elaine’s center has experienced a teacher shortage for the past 13 years, and the immigrant, who has a college degree and past experience in social services, has been a steady presence for the children there.
“She’s their consistent person. She spends more time than a lot of the parents do with the children during their waking hours,” Elaine said. “She’s there for them, she’s loving, she provides that support, that connection, that security that young children need.”
In January, the Trump administration suspended the Uniting for Ukraine program, which allowed Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion to live and work in the United States for two years. While the program later opened up a process to apply for an extension, Elaine’s employee has encountered delays, like many others.
The teacher’s parole expired this month. Under the law, she is now supposed to return to Ukraine, where her home city in southeast Ukraine is still under attack by Russian forces.
Elaine fears what will happen if the center loses her. “As a business, we need her. We need a teacher we can count on,” Elaine said. “For our teachers’ mental health, to have her leave and knowing where she would go would be really difficult.”
Elaine has decided to allow the employee to keep working, and is appealing to state lawmakers to help extend her stay. Several parents have also joined in the effort, writing letters to Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin telling her how much their children love the teacher — and how important she is to the local economy. One factor in granting an extension is that the person offers a “significant public benefit” to the country.
The authors of the new report found immigrants are not the only caregivers affected by ICE enforcement this year. There has also been a drop in U.S.-born child care workers in the industry, especially among Hispanic and less-educated caregivers. This could be the result of a “climate of fear and confusion” surrounding enforcement activity, according to the report, as well as a “perceived pattern of profiling or discriminatory enforcement practices.”
“These deportations have been sold under the theory that they are going to be a boon for U.S.-born workers once we sort of unclog the labor market by removing large numbers of undocumented immigrants,” Herbst said. “We’re finding at least in the child care industry, and at least in the short run, that appears not to be the case.” Some foreign-born and U.S.-born workers have different skills and do not seem to be competing for the same caregiving jobs, he added.
Not all workers are leaving the caregiving industry altogether. Some immigrants are shifting to work as nannies or au pairs, Herbst said, “finding refuge” in private homes where they are less likely to come into contact with state child care regulators or be part of formal wage systems. (Already, an estimated 142,000 undocumented immigrants work as nannies and personal care or home health aides nationwide.) That contact with regulators and other authorities may be a reason why center-based early childhood educators are leaving the field in greater proportions now, Herbst said.
These findings come at the end of a difficult year for the child care workforce, which has long been in crisis due to dismally low pay and challenging work conditions. More than half of child care providers surveyed this year by the RAPID Survey Project at Stanford University reported experiencing difficulty affording food, the highest rate since the survey started collecting data on provider hunger in 2021. Other recent reports have found child care providers are at a higher risk for clinical depression, and in some cities an increasing number are taking on part-time jobs to make ends meet.
Across the country this year, early childhood providers have seen drops in enrollment as families pull their children out of schools and programs to avoid ICE. Child care centers are losing money and finding that some staff members are too scared to come to work or have lost work authorization after the administration ended certain refugee programs. Many child care workers have taken on additional roles driving children to and from care, collecting emergency numbers and plans for children in their care in case parents are detained and dropping off food for families too scared to leave their homes.
This story about immigration enforcement was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter.
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://hechingerreport.org/immigration-enforcement-is-driving-away-early-childhood-educators/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://hechingerreport.org”>The Hechinger Report</a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/hechingerreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/cropped-favicon.jpg?fit=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”>
