Success Story: Young Harris College

With an enrollment of over 500 students, Young Harris College is a private, United Methodist-affiliated residential two-year liberal arts college located in the Appalachian mountains of northern Georgia.

Challenges:
Like many institutions today, in recent years Young Harris found that deposited students were not enrolling at the same rate they had in the past. With more students submitting deposits at more institutions and more students canceling deposits after the May 1 refund deadline, the College was faced with a steadily climbing deposit cancellation rate.

When that cancellation rate hit 31% in fall 2005, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Clint Hobbs knew something had to be done. “Our staff was working as hard as they could to generate and then keep deposits, yet we kept loosing more and more of them each year. I knew we’d hit the point that we would have a very hard time generating even more deposits to make up for the loss. We needed a new approach to how we communicated with deposited students.”

Solution:
To address the deposit cancellation issue, DemandEngine worked with Young Harris to create a more intensive communications flow for deposited students. Instead of focusing only on the logistics of the student enrolling (housing, orientation, etc), communications were designed to further cultivate the relationship with the student.

“Demand Engine worked with us on strategies to communicate with the students once they were in the deposit stage," says Hobbs. "The communications from Demand Engine reminded the students of the reasons that they chose Young Harris in the first place. By using email, direct mail, and outbound phone calls, we did a better job of cultivating relationships with these students.”

Results:
In one year, the deposit cancellation rate dropped from 31% in fall 2005 to 19% in fall 2006. The College also enrolled the largest freshman class in the history of the College in fall 2006.

Testimonial:
“We decreased our deposit cancellation rate much more than I thought was possible in one year. I really give Demand Engine credit for making that difference. Because of the diligence of Demand Engine, and other changes that we made earlier in the process, we were able to enroll over 400 students this fall. That’s the largest freshman class in the history of the college!

“Of all of the outside companies that we contract with, Demand Engine is the easiest to work with. They learn about the institution and know just how to tailor the message so that it’s unique for each school. And, the DemandEngine team members are a great resource. They understand the field of college admissions and know what we’re trying to do. DemandEngine is more than a service provider; they are a partner and I really value that relationship.” Clint Hobbs, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid