Digitally Engaging Students Yields Record Enrollment

Challenge

Huston-Tillotson University (HT), an HBCU located in Austin, TX, is a tight-knit community of students, faculty, and staff with a goal of providing educational access to all. A few years ago, the university’s primary means of communicating to students was to engage with them personally throughout the recruitment process, primarily through in-person conversations, open houses, and college fairs. However, when the pandemic affected enrollment rates across the country, HT’s applications dropped roughly 30%, and they knew they wanted to reach and support students where they were now spending most of their time–on their phones and computers.

Solution

To strengthen their application generation efforts anew, Huston-Tillotson partnered with Encoura to successfully connect with students most likely to enroll. Initially, HT and Encoura focused outreach on students geographically close to the university, and then branched out with strategic digital marketing strategies to reach new markets and boost engagement for both traditional and adult degree programs. They knew connecting with the right students on the right channels with messaging that was proven to align with student interests would be a successful strategy.