In this ever changing and difficult economy, we are finding that recruitment and retention of students is taking on a more important role for universities. It is something that will probably be a major goal for most schools in 2009 and beyond.
It used to be that everyone thought that recruitment and retention was the role of the admissions department or it was up to the faculty. But we are all finding that recruitment and retention is a duty that belongs to each and every one of us. There are critical components we must all be thinking about regardless of our job. From the admissions department to the card office to the custodial staff, we must all make recruitment and retention a priority.
As we all know, it is much less expensive to retain a student than to recruit a new student so we should do everything we can to keep the students we have.
From the card office perspective, have you thought about the service you deliver to your students? Do you make it convenient for them? Do you give your students and parents the run around to find different departments on campus? Could you possibly integrate resources into one location to make it more convenient for them? And, do you have the right staff to make sure your office is remembered as the friendliest place on campus?
At the University of Northern Colorado, we found we were sending parents and students all over campus to accomplish student service-related items. We made the decision in early 2000 to bring as many services as possible into one area to create a generalist environment where students and parents could get answers to all of their questions and obtain services. The card office was the logical, perfect location as we were centrally located and all students came through the office.
The first roadblock in this venture was to find the right personnel. We needed employees that knew the campus, had a broad understanding of various functions, and had outstanding customer service skills.
We pulled two individuals from the student activities area that had been employees for 20 years, had the requisite customer service skills and understood the services we had available. These two employees now handle all accounting functions for 250 clubs and organizations about which many students were already familiar.
Their positions in the student activity area were only part time. By bringing them into the card office, their positions could go to full time and they would be able to support the card office, work throughout the summer during the busy new student orientation sessions and become the generalists that were needed to support additional services for parents and students. They also had the personalities needed to be the campus supporter, the friendly smiling person, the employee who could find all the answers for them.
The types of services being offered in the card office grew out of requests from parents and students. We started by adding the ability to sign up for meal plans. Dining services saw a 9% increase in sales the first year due to this new location.
We also had numerous requests to pay bills, so we added a drop box for fee payments. Next, we added the ability to sell parking passes. Last year we also added the ability to handle health insurance waivers and receive immunization records. All of these changes made parents extremely happy as they no longer had to go from building to building to get things accomplished.
Adding these additional services in the card office has brought greater awareness to our building, but most importantly, we have stopped giving our students and parents the run-around. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/archive-4.gif)
