We Share 5 Powerful College Recruitment Strategies to Boost Enrollment

Hitting enrollment targets these days is more challenging than ever.

For example, less than half of institutions with fall semesters meet their quota by May 1st each year. And it’s not just a one-off thing: between 2012 and 2022, U.S. college enrollment dropped by over 3.1 million students. Further, this trend is global. For example, Australia recently saw its lowest enrollment in nearly a decade.

To attract students, you need a strong, reliable recruitment strategy. In this Willo guide, we’ll share five tried-and-tested strategies that can help boost your enrollment numbers.

What Is College Recruitment? 

College recruitment is the process of finding, attracting, and enrolling highly qualified students to a college. The process typically involves moving prospects through different stages in the enrollment funnel:

• Prospect stage: Spotting potential students and sparking their interests. 
• Inquiry stage: Engaging with those who show interest through channels like webinars, on-demand tours, and more.
• Applicant stage: Encouraging prospects to apply and simplifying their application process.
• Acceptance stage: Reviewing applications and admitting qualified students.
• Deposit stage: Securing their commitment with a deposit.
• Enroll Stage: Finalizing enrollment as students complete their paperwork and officially join.

5 College Recruitment Strategies to Boost Student Enrollment 

1. Add virtual recruiting to your stack

Most colleges already use basic virtual recruitment strategies like:

• Email campaigns
• Webinars
• Social media posts
• Admissions websites
• Online brochures

But it's important to go beyond these now-expected fundamentals. To truly stand out, consider implementing more interactive and personalized virtual tools throughout the entire recruitment funnel—from initial outreach to the application process itself.

Two potentially powerful additions to your virtual recruiting stack are:

1. Async video interview tools
2. On-demand virtual tours

Let’s take a closer look to see how these tools can help.

Async interview tools

Async interview tools like Willo let candidates complete interviews on their own time. This is a powerful experience booster because it eliminates the main stresses of live interviews—performing well in front of others and the logistics of actually attending.

Here’s how it works:

1. Create Your Questions: List the questions you need.
2. Set Up the Interview: Use Willo to create your interview.
3. Send to Candidates: Distribute interview links to candidates in bulk.
4. Let Candidates Record: They respond at their convenience.

Beyond the convenience, this approach also helps you move candidates through the recruitment process faster, screen more applicants at once, and reduce the chances of losing candidates due to a lengthy recruitment process.

Think about it—if you had to schedule video interviews with 100 candidates, you’d need to coordinate 100 different sessions. That’s a huge time-sink. With async interviews, you simply send out 100 links and review responses as they roll in.

Source: How MyTutor Increased Recruiting Capacity And Reduced Overheads

To illustrate the potential here, MyTutor was able to increase recruiting capacity by 75% while reducing overhead by 12% using Willo’s async interview tools to screen applicants for their growing tutoring platform. Rather than worrying about hiring new recruiters or expanding the team, MyTutor was able to streamline their recruiting process and make more efficient use of their current resources.

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Virtual on-demand tours 

Virtual on-demand tours are interactive digital experiences that let prospective students explore your campus from the comfort of their own homes. The medium of choice is typically 360-degree photography or videography that aims to mimic the experience of an on-campus tour.

Here’s an excellent example from Augustana College.

Source: Augustana College

It adds an extra layer of interactivity by including audio from a virtual tour guide when students enter a location. Videos embedded throughout give prospective students a look at what life is like on campus. 

How does this help boost enrollment? Your campus is one of your most powerful recruiting assets… but traveling to see it in person is often a major friction point for prospective students. This option lets you take your campus directly to them.

To pull this strategy off, you’ll need: 

• A 360-degree camera
• A virtual tour software like Panoee or Circuit

If your university is primarily online, you can look into alternatives that bring a similar level of interactivity and engagement, without focusing on physical spaces:

• Create virtual tours of your online learning platforms and tools
• Create "Day in the life" videos of current online students
• Host virtual meet-and-greets with faculty and staff
• Create virtual “campuses” that students can explore to learn more about your university and programs

2. Create a website that wows (and informs) 

The majority (72%) of students say a website was the first place they checked when researching potential colleges. If you want to make that first impression a great one, your website needs to inform—but also stand out from the rest.

Being informative means:

1. Having content that answers common questions: This information can be drawn from your admissions office, but also from current students and alumni.
2. Making that content easily accessible: This is usually where it’s you web design that lets you down.

You can make your content more accessible by organizing information logically with clear navigation menus, implementing a search function, and providing comprehensive details on programs, admissions requirements, and financial aid options.

The more difficult part is informing visitors while wowing them. Here are a few tips and strategies designed to do both at once:

• Interactive program explorer: Create a tool where students input interests to receive personalized recommendations.
• Virtual classroom experience: Offer a simulated online class, letting prospects "attend" a brief lecture.
• Student success stories map: Develop an interactive global map showcasing graduate achievements.
• Topical content and pages: Create pages and content surrounding current events that connect with your institution. For example, USC devoted their entire hero section to Olympic coverage, with a live medal count for USC students and alumni. This is an amazing way to wow student-athletes that are considering USC.

Source: USC

3. Build a solid community on social media 

One of prospective students' biggest concerns is finding a supportive community. If you can show them that your college has a strong, welcoming community, you’ll be one step closer to getting them into your recruitment funnel.

And where’s the best place to show that? Where they’re already looking for this info—on social media. According to Statista, students mainly use Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok to research your college, so this is where you should focus your efforts.

Source: Statista 

Now for the “how.” There are many ways to build that sense of community on these social channels. 

First, 92% of students say they’d love to chat with current students from their potential schools. This can really speed up their decision-making process. So, why not set up live Q&A sessions with your current students on social media? This way, prospective students can ask questions and interact with your students in real time.

As an alternative to live sessions and one-off Q&As, you can also use a tool like Willo to create an async video library. Have current students answer common questions from their own perspectives, then publish the library so prospective students have to access a variety of authentic experiences on demand.

Source: Harvard 

Another great idea is to run a student-generated content (UGC) campaign. Encourage current students to share their campus experiences—photos, videos, and stories—with (or without) a branded hashtag.

Here’s an example of UGC created by a Harvard University student. In the video, she talks about the classes, clubs, campus, etc.—all information prospective students seek honest information about. The video also currently has over 13M views. 

While Harvard may not use specific software for this, tools like Willo can help you securely record, store, and share similar student testimonials. Just create an “interview,” share the secure link with students, and publish the responses.

Source: University of Washington

This will work for pretty much any channel—from email to social media. The video above is a great example of the kind of fun, student-centric content that can be shared on social media platforms like TikTok.

4. Streamline your application process 

Even if you’ve sparked some initial interest and gotten candidates excited enough to apply, that interest can still fade along the funnel. One major culprit is the application process—one in four candidates never completes college applications.

The simpler you make the application process, the better the chances of applicants finishing it. But don’t confuse "easy" with "lesser than the required standard.” Here’s what we mean by making the application easier:

• Offer support: Provide guidance through webinars, workshops, or one-on-one sessions. Most importantly, focus on essay writing support with brainstorming sessions, writing clinics, and feedback on drafts. Also, be ready to assist with any complicated documentation requirements.
• Simplify the application forms: Keep the application concise and focused on essential information you need to evaluate students for your program.
• Transparent communication: Never leave applicants in the dark. Always inform them about the application status and next steps, such as at submission, during review, and when decisions are made. Send reminders for upcoming deadlines or missing documents.
• Reasonable deadlines: Set realistic application deadlines to avoid overwhelming applicants, and make sure they’re communicated through clear messaging and regular reminders.

5. Help students settle in

Your student recruitment efforts should continue once students are admitted. While they're less likely to un-enroll or ask for a refund (and you may have non-refundable deposits), how you support them from here on out can significantly impact their experience and what they share with others about your college.

One good idea is organizing pre-orientation events and activities that connect incoming students with the campus community—think meet-and-greets, cultural diversity workshops, webinars, and “speed friending” sessions.

You can also provide resources and support to make their transition smooth—help with course registration, dorm move-ins, housing, and understanding campus resources. Any support you offer contributes to student retention in the short term and increased enrollment in the long term.

Boost Enrollment With Willo

With college enrollments dropping and competition for candidates rising, you need to go the extra mile to hit your admission targets each cycle. This article covers five solid strategies to help you do just that.

One essential tip: make the most of virtual tools, especially for interviews. With asynchronous video interview tools like Willo, you can streamline the process, interview candidates quickly and conveniently, and move them smoothly down the enrollment funnel.

Why wait? Start your free trial today and see how Willo can help you boost your enrollment numbers.

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