In Fall 2020 and Spring 2021, the Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (TACRAO) worked with high schools and community colleges across the state to pivot from the traditional in-person schedule of college fairs to a virtual schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. TACRAO paid for the platform to host the virtual fairs through GoToCollegeFairs.com at no cost to the member institutions nor the fair hosts, which consisted of high schools, school districts, and 2-year colleges. The only cost was for recruiting institutions to pay for a one-time virtual booth fee of $150 for the entire season.
The TACRAO High School Relations committee then worked tirelessly to schedule the virtual fairs for every hosting high school, school district, and 2-year college across the state for the entirety of the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 recruitment seasons. For Fall 2020, this resulted in 357 separate college fairs with 386 participating colleges and universities who registered a virtual booth at the fair. Over 87,000 students, parents, and counselors registered to attend the fairs, resulting in 209,592 leads created and 184,912 leads downloaded for participating institutions. This provided institutions an opportunity to safely recruit students and participate in college fairs at a fraction of the normal travel costs associated with attending college fairs. Many schools said this also generated more leads for them than ever before.
TACRAO saved the 2020-2021 college recruitment season for not only the state of Texas, but also for those out-of-state colleges and universities who attended the virtual fairs. High school and community college students were provided an opportunity to learn about 357 different colleges and universities across and outside of Texas as they shopped for where they wanted to continue their education. TACRAO continued this service in Fall 2021 by working with schools, school districts, and 2-year colleges to schedule both in-person and virtual fairs. While some fair hosts wanted in-person, others wanted to remain virtual while COVID cases rose.
In addition, TACRAO hosted its annual meeting in November 2020 virtually free-of-charge to attendees. They also offered the pre-conference SEM workshop free-of-charge as well. As a result, over 1200 registrants attended the 2020 virtual conference, many of whom would normally not have been able to attend a TACRAO conference in the past. In July 2021, TACRAO offered a virtual Community College and University Issues Summer Meeting, bringing in members from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to go over new legislative items from the year's legislative session. This virtual conference was also provided to the membership free-of-charge.