Augusta University, like so many institutions across the country, set high targets to increase enrollment rates and better serve their priority populations. When Alexis Pope joined Augusta University in early 2021 as AVP for Enrollment Management, he leaned on his prior experience leading admissions and his doctoral research on student motivation. However, Pope knew that achieving Augusta’s enrollment goals would take a different approach while balancing limited team bandwidth and resources.
Pope’s approach centered on improving incoming students’ sense of belonging to increase enrollment conversion and commitment. Pope turned to Nearpeer to ensure incoming Fall 2021 students could “find their people” and know they truly belonged at the university.
Improved enrollment outcomes at Augusta University
In the summer of 2021, they rolled out Nearpeer’s peer engagement platform to incoming students. After just two emails and one text message, nearly 50% of their student population adopted the app, where they spent hours connecting in a healthy way and making new friends before they stepped foot on campus. In addition, Nearpeer helped incoming students connect with other students with similar backgrounds, experiences, and locations, so that they were confident in Augusta as their best-fit institution, academically and personally.
This fall, Augusta reported a record-low melt rate of 8.5% for freshmen—and they unlocked even lower melt rates for their priority populations within their incoming class. First-generation students who used Nearpeer had a 4% melt rate, while first-generation students who did not use the app had a melt rate five times higher (21% melt).
With the app already launched for the new Fall 2022 class, Pope is focused on improving enrollment conversion higher in the funnel, too. (Learn more from Alexis Pope here.)
Innovation at Xavier University of Louisiana Connects Students and Families
Meanwhile, at Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA), leaders worked to deliver an experience that attracted and retained new students. Keyana Scales, VP of Enrollment Management at XULA, knew they needed a way to differentiate their experience from other institutions, including other HBCUs across the US. They were already a national leader in academics, with nationally recognized science and liberal arts programs. However, Scales believed they had untapped potential in conveying the unique value and experience of XULA.
So, Scales sought a way to build that community quickly so that incoming and new students could connect with each other and the XULA community. She knew that building a sense of belonging through peer-to-peer peer engagement would improve commitment for students and their families. In the spring of 2021, her team rolled out Nearpeer for Students to their incoming student population.
Outcomes with Nearpeer for Students
By the time new Xavierites (XULA students) moved to campus in August, a majority were actively using Nearpeer to connect with each other, and 91% of these students made new 1:1 connections through Nearpeer. This incoming class set a new record as the largest incoming class size in 15 years, with more than 850 students enrolled, and it marks a new chapter of growth for the XULA community.
Connecting families with other families
Additionally, for many of their students, the decision to attend XULA was influenced by important people in their life. If parents or family members felt confident in XULA’s approach to learning and the student experience, then those incoming and new students were more likely to enroll and stay. Xavier, already leveraging Nearpeer for their first-year students, partnered with their student affairs team to give incoming parents and families a similar solution to drive engagement and connection. XULA rolled out Nearpeer for Families shortly before the fall semester began.
“Nearpeer for Families has enabled parents to connect, share resources, and truly extend the Xavier community. It's helped us move from only communicating with parents in moments of crisis or when they need to pay a bill. We're reducing their anxiety by being proactive, and that makes it easier for our students, too." - VP of Student Affairs Dr. Curtis Wright, Xavier University of Louisiana.
Outcomes with Nearpeer for Parents & Families
To date, more than 40% of eligible students have at least one parent or family member using Nearpeer in their dedicated, separate virtual community—and that’s in addition to students’ own use of Nearpeer. Students with a parent or family member in Nearpeer had higher enrollment rates—and each parent utilized Nearpeer to find and connect with, on average, 36 fellow parents and college staff. In less than three months from launch, these family members each used Nearpeer an average of 64 times and have already spent nearly seven hours each connecting with each other.
This program proved very useful during an unexpected campus closure. About a week after students moved in and classes began, Hurricane Ida struck New Orleans, including Xavier’s campus. Students were temporarily relocated from campus. Throughout the crisis, Scales and Curtis were able to share updates to students and families through Nearpeer. Nearpeer served as an important and trusted communication channel when students and staff were without electricity or WiFi.
In reflecting on the crisis, Scales noted that their students were more connected and engaged because of Nearpeer, which helped minimize attrition from Hurricane Ida as nearly all students returned to campus. Classes and campus activities are back in full swing, and students are more engaged with XULA than ever.
“I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly and how robust the adoption rate was both for students and parents. Over two-thirds of our student population downloaded Nearpeer and made multiple connections. The Nearpeer platform [is] one of the reasons we did not lose a lot of students after Hurricane Ida.” - VP of Enrollment Management Dr. Keyana Scales, Xavier University of Louisiana
For additional information on their work and best practices in student and parent engagement, register to join Lessons from EM Leaders on Thursday, December 9 at 2 pm ET.