Keeping students on the hook can involve something as simple as letting them start and finish the enrollment process with the one thing they rarely put down: their cellphones. Students can enroll in four online programs at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology without ever having to log on to their laptops. That might not seem like a big deal, but simplifying and streamlining enrollment is key, says Luke Phillips, executive director of marketing and enrollment at the graduate school in Malibu, Calif.
“Every action you make a student take in the enrollment cycle causes them to be exponentially less likely to be in their seat on the first day of class,” he says. The university enlisted the help of Emma, Perdia Education’s artificial intelligence-powered mobile enrollment tool. Students who don’t answer emails and don’t have time for face-to-face meetings are more likely to respond and follow through on enrollment, advocates of the technology say, when the whole process fits in the palm of one hand.
