In This Issue Current Issue Archives

January 2006

Recruitment & Retention - January 2006 - Full Issue
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14 Steps to a Great Admissions Website
Most college admissions websites make the same mistakes other websites do, says the author of a recently published book on website marketing.

Admission Website Functionality Reports
The National Research Center for College and University Admissions has released information from its seventh annual Enrollment Power Index, a study of admission website effectiveness. The study rates how well admission websites provide information to potential students and move them from being prospects to being applicants.

Students Bring Multiracial Identities to Campus
More than 7 million people identified themselves as multiracial in the 2000 U.S. Census, the first to offer this identity as a possible racial or ethnic category. Of people who identified themselves and multiracial, 41 percent were younger than 18. Since then, these young people have made their presence known on college campuses, founding organizations and participating in activities that recognize Americans’ increasingly complex racial and ethnic identities.

Indiana Offers E-Transcript Service Statewide
In what appears to be the first state program of its kind, Indiana is offering high school students the ability to submit transcripts electronically to any college or university within the state.

Students Happier with the Details of College Life, but Less Happy about the Cost
Students are more satisfied today with several details of their college experiences than they were five years ago, according to the results of a recently released study. But despite the improvements, students at four-year institutions are less likely today than they were five years ago to say that overall, their educations are worth the tuition costs.

Online Students Can Improve Overall Student Quality
A common concern when starting a distance education program is that the online course offerings will merely divert students from existing traditional courses, dividing a fixed pool of students between the two delivery methods. However, recent research by an associate professor of economics indicates that such fears are unwarranted.

Campus Culture and Leadership Key to Good Graduation Rates
A study of 12 public colleges with higher-than-predicted graduation rates found that all of these institutions share a set of characteristics that encourage student success.

For-Profit Boom Continues, Despite Enrollment Shifts
It might seem, at first glance, that the boom in for-profit higher education is slowing down. For instance, the Apollo Group, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, saw a slowdown in revenue growth in the last six months of fiscal 2005, ending September 30. However, that doesn’t indicate that for-profit institutions are losing their share of the market; it means that students are shifting from more expensive on-site programs to less expensive electronic programs.

Newswire
More schools abandon tests as part of the admissions process; Latino students receive the lowest federal aid awards of any group; NCES revamps its website; ACE launches website for adult learners seeking credit for workplace training; Report tracks shifts in black enrollment over the past 30 years; more

Resources
Graduate Admissions Conferences; Diversity and Inclusion Briefing Papers; NACAC Legislative Conference; Joint Conference on Higher Education’s Future; Pathways to College Access and Success; Access and Success Research Agenda; Assessing Community College Student Success Services; Bowl-Bound Teams’ Graduation Rates