College Marketing Experts Set Sights on Kids Who Pay

Julie Halpert

urdue University was always a back-up school for Kemsley Corell. But once she was accepted, she was won over by the barrage of mail advertising the school. She received plenty of marketing materials from other schools, but what impressed her about Purdue were the letters from faculty and staff from the Animal Sciences department, the College of Agriculture. She even received one from the dean himself.

Specific phrases in the letters made them seem personal - like the one from Marcos Fernandez, associate dean at the College of Agriculture, who underlined the words, "Congratulations" and "I look forward to meeting and getting to know you." The letters made the Pleasant Grove, Utah applicant , feel "like I was important to Purdue and that I could really fit in there." She started as a freshman at Purdue this fall.

Corell's story is music to the ears of Teri Lucie Thompson, chief marketing officer for Purdue University. She's one of the many marketing pros hired recently by universities to reach out more aggressively to students. The economic downturn and growing competition among institutions for students is prompting many schools to employ increasingly sophisticated marketing techniques to appeal to their pool of applicants - including those that can pay full price - and ensure they'll get the highest caliber of students.

The term "marketing" once was a dirty word at universities and colleges, as many faculty felt the school's stellar reputation should be enough to draw students. But now many schools have hired chief marketing officers, or CMOs, with six-figure salaries. Thompson, who makes a base salary of $265,000 with an annual 14-percent pension contribution, points to Bentley University and Utah State University as just two recent examples. Others schools are also hiring outside marketing firms.

"More than ever, higher education is a buyer's market," said Tony Pals, a spokesman for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. He says students are increasingly concerned about the economic returns of their degree and are looking for a college with the best value.

And, many colleges spend a boatload of money on marketing, often paid by prospective students' application fees.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at October 7, 2012 1:15 AM
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