By Heather Zimar, Managing Editor, Journals and Publications, AACRAO, Live from SEM 2024
At Curry College, recent efforts to engage families positively impacted student enrollment. These efforts included researching family expectations, choosing effective technology and resources, and communicating content that resonates with families.
“Not all parents are looking for the same information as their students,” said Kyle Nolan, Director of Enrollment Marketing at Curry College, at a session at the SEM 2024 Conference in Boston. “It really is important to create communication plans both for students and the influencers in their lives.”
Curry considered research showing that most prospective and current families expect to hear from campuses at least weekly and that families value campus visits, digital content about academic programs, and direct communication with the campus. In addition, the college found that families rank email as their preferred form of communication, with texting as their second preferred form of communication.
This information led the college to implement technology and resources, including texting, a parent and family resource webpage, and a strategic family engagement platform, which assists with posts, announcements, and events. “The goal of all of this is to be as personalized and dynamic as possible,” Nolan said.
With these resources, Curry focused on including content that has yielded higher-than-average engagement among families—information on affordability, financial aid, merit scholarships, campus support, neurodiversity, the Program for Advancement of Learning (PAL), the Social Achievement in Learning (SAIL) Program, and the Curry Commitment.
In addition, the campus shares stories about its community resource dog, who visits classes and residence halls. “A lot of what we communicate with parents is transactional,” Nolan said. “But it’s also important to have fun.”
Nolan noted students and families reported in surveys that their top enrollment factors were the following:
These engagement and communication efforts are paying off. Yield at Curry increased 4.5% from 2023-2024, and the retention rate increased 6% from 2023-2024 to 2024-2025, with increases in first-generation enrollment and the campus diversity rate.
“Expanding efforts and investment really had a positive enrollment impact,” Nolan said. “We’ve got a couple years under our belt, and now we're starting to see this in the data.”