Student Retention Services
We Get StudentsRe-engaged
The issue of student retention has been critical for decades.
- 30% of college freshman never make it to their sophomore year.
- 40% of undergraduate college students drop out.
All the time and money that’s been dedicated to the problem hasn’t really moved the needle.
But Sextant Marketing is helping colleges and universities re-engage students who’ve stopped or dropped out. We’re employing new tools and strategies informed by high-tech data analytics and a deep knowledge, understanding, and intuition of students’ motivations and their barriers to completion.
We’re getting results.
Why should collegesGET STUDENTS BACK?
Re-engaging former students can boost declining enrollment and revenue by removing barriers to completion for students that already chose you once. When you identify and overcome the circumstances that led to a student’s initial drop-out they are more likely to finish with you. Added focus on re-enrolling students through personalized outreach leads to growth for your institution and your students.
Why should studentsGET BACK TO COLLEGE?
Life is a journey and the path of a student from enrollment to graduation may not be a straight line. Circumstances change. Obstacles arise. But students who leave college without finishing often accrue debt while they lack the career potential of a graduate. More degree options, online classes, and specialized support mean there are now more ways for students to complete their education.
Why should collegesGET STUDENTS BACK?
Re-engaging former students can boost declining enrollment and revenue by removing barriers to completion for students that already chose you once. When you identify and overcome the circumstances that led to a student’s initial drop-out they are more likely to finish with you. Added focus on re-enrolling students through personalized outreach leads to growth for your institution and your students.
Why should studentsGET BACK TO COLLEGE?
Life is a journey and the path of a student from enrollment to graduation may not be a straight line. Circumstances change. Obstacles arise. But students who leave college without finishing often accrue debt while they lack the career potential of a graduate. More degree options, online classes, and specialized support mean there are now more ways for students to complete their education.
Re-enrollment services
We help getstop-outs to opt back in.
Sextant uses modern, data and tech forward methods to carry out re-engagement strategies rooted in solid student development theory. Our personalized approach is executed with technology and driven by the research and conclusions of experts like Vincent Tinto, Alexander Astin, and Alan Seidman.
In short, we get students back. The Sextant team draws from decades of student retention experience and builds strong recruitment campaigns that lead to sustainable enrollment pipelines for our clients.
Our Process
Sextant spends time with your faculty and staff, learning as much as we can about your University’s unique offerings and characteristics, your brand, and your strategic plans. This is time for collaboration and sharing information that will help us establish project goals and objectives.
Encompassing elements of your online and/or campus experiences, the Features and Benefits Analysis (FAB) helps us identify what makes your university stand out. The information shared during this process leads to the development of messaging that will appeal to students who will most benefit from the distinct features of your college or university.
During this discovery phase we will collaborate with your team to review your existing data. This is one of the most important steps in the process and together we will make sure you have the most complete data possible.
Sextant leverages powerful tools that help us validate and update contact information. This allows us to eliminate duplicates and mistakes in prospective student data, resulting in relevant information with a high-level of confidence in accuracy.
The optimized data is matched to social media profiles and additional integral information, allowing us to create a comprehensive picture of each student.
Data analysis combined with sophisticated higher ed intuition helps us identify opportunities for connection with students that match your institution’s objectives.
The Sextant team is well-versed in student development theory with a rich understanding of students’ motivations and barriers to completion. The alignment of your strengths and resources with the students’ needs is a recipe for success, with the most effective campaigns leveraging your strongest student support systems.
Experience our personalized videos.
Consistent messaging that highlights your University’s unique features, advantages, and benefits aligns your marketing materials and our success coaches with a cohesive communication plan.
Sextant will develop a communication strategy that combines automated, personalized technology with trained specialists (success coaches) who provide a human connection with the student.
Our software enables us to create personalized emails and landing pages with customized images and content based on what we’ve learned about the student. The result is hyper-personalized conversations that happen via email, landing page form completion, web visit, and chat interactions.
With the communication plan in motion, Sextant will collect critical data and track interactions with messaging, creating a history of those interactions for each student. Identifying successes throughout the student’s journey allows us to refine our communication plan as we go.
Sextant develops testing matrices to enable continuous improvement, constantly monitoring incoming data, and adjusting marketing communication based on real-time analysis.
Dashboards compile information on campaign and individual progress throughout our partnership so we can continue to collaborate and share information.
At Sextant, we endeavor to be a long-term partner of the colleges & universities we have the pleasure of working with. Our goal in the future success phase is to develop long-term strategies aimed at increasing the recovery rate of stopped out students and reducing the length of the leave.
As we embark on this singular journey together it is our hope that the insights, successes, and lessons found here can be used to help your University develop policies and procedures for nurturing stopped-out students earlier and presenting those students with options that help them complete their education on the best terms for everyone. We also compile recommendations from our success coaches based on direct feedback from students about their experiences both positive and negative. This feedback loop is a critical component to developing strategies for the university to be self-supported in the future.
Signature High-Touch Contact Model
Quality data and automation combined with high-tech personalization helps remove barriers and gets students back on track.
We reach students through our high-touch contact model. Engaging through phone, email, and direct mail, we connect with former learners whose potential to re-engage with the institution and personal motivations and barriers are a good match with the strengths of your University.
When students engage, Sextant sets into motion a series of triggered events that enable our automation tools and our success coaches to reach out with the right personalized message. Applying the messaging matrix to the communication plan equips the success coaches with relevant tactics and solutions that are most likely to end in success for the student and your University.
We Get Results
We don’t just make phone calls and send emails.We build relationships.
Sextant executes successful campaigns targeted to engage current and former students.
Sextant Marketing deployed engagement campaigns targeted for select segments of current and former students, resulting in 139 additional students for Fall 2018.
17%
Graduate Student Reactivation Campaign
21
Undergraduate Student Reactivation Campaign
31%
Undergraduate Student Engagement Campaign
KYSU enrolled its largest freshman class in the fall of 2019 with 533 new students enrolling which is over a 200%+ increase in new students.
90.2%
YOY Increase Fall Freshman Enrollment
525
First Time Freshman Enrollments
170%
YOY Increase Spring Freshman Enrollment
Break Down the Internal Barriers of the Adult Learner
The average American college student might be older than you think. There are many reasons for this, but what we know for sure is that stopped out traditional students are now adults and they are returning to school for degree completion. To support their return, it’s important to consider their specific needs. During the re-engagement and re-integration process Sextant focuses on areas of concern specifically for returning adult students.
Lack of Time
Balancing work and family commitments while maintaining a healthy personal life can be a barrier to success. We make sure there is a plan in place.
Mindset
Adult learners approach college with a different mindset, are more discerning when choosing a school, and may be anxious about returning.
Flexibility
The additional responsibilities most adults must juggle mean that flexibility is more important for them than their younger counterparts.
Financial Barriers
Adult learners have more financial commitments and responsibilities, making the cost of earning their degree a potential source of anxiety or discouragement.
Value for Money
The adult student often has a higher level of financial literacy and better understands, and therefore places high importance on, the ROI of their education.
Supportive Community
For students who are facing the challenges of returning to school as an adult, a supportive community of peers and faculty can make the difference in completing their degree.
Stopped out returning adult students look different than the traditional student for many reasons and Sextant understands the challenges and anxieties they face. We use modern data and tech forward methods to carry out re-engagement and re-integration strategies rooted in solid student development theory. Our personalized approach is executed with technology and driven by the research and conclusions of theorists like Malcolm Knowles, David Kolb, and Reg Revans. We get students back. And we do it by drawing on decades of retention experience and building strong recruitment campaigns that lead to sustainable enrollment pipelines for our clients.
The Mental Health Factor
You know what it is. And according to a recent study from the American Council on Education, it may be one of your top concerns. We’ll help you address it.
Today, 25% of traditional aged students enter college with a mental health diagnosis. While some students experience normative depression and anxiety that is often seen in this age group through major life transitions, other students may be grappling with more serious mental diagnoses.
We believe that by partnering with colleges to enhance support of stopped out students, specifically those who have left with a mental health diagnosis, we can increase retention rates as well as the 4 -6-year graduation rate. Learn more about supporting mental health for college students.
We Get Higher Education
Sextant’s enrollment and retention experts have been in higher education for over 20 years (or more in some cases.) We’ve seen this industry go through a myriad of changes, but your goals around serving students remain the same. At Sextant, we adapt to the environmental and external changes around you, and help you continue to achieve your goals. Our solutions are repeatable and most-importantly, flexible to meet the needs of each university partner.