Trends in Student Perspectives of their College Search

1. Trends in Student Perspectives of their College Search

2. How does Zinch help you? Save time and money by connecting directly with best-fit students around the world Personalize the recruiting process through social media by putting students first in your outreach Stay informed about current trends in the industry through best in-class research and professional development

3. Zinch: By the Numbers Reaches over 40% of college-bound seniors Reaches 68% of students actively researching colleges online Over 9 million connections between students and their right-fit colleges and universities over the past 3 years Zinch registration population in-line with US population Chegg reaches 30% of current college students

4. Why this Study Background: Gain greater insights into high school students’ and new college students’ selection process in selecting a college or university and identify key student profiles to support recruitment and marketing professionals Methodology: Survey invitations were emailed to Zinch and Chegg students, Guidance Counselors. Parents were interviewed via phone survey Survey Dates: January - February 2013Includes data from Social Admissions Report, Parent Perspectives, and Counselor Perspectives High School Students and Influencers: -Over 10,000 student respondents -Approx. 3,200 parents of students in grades 5-12 -Approx. 300 School Counselors

5. Gender Respondents Respondents represent minorities and are representatively spread throughout US • GPA • Ethnicity • Top States of Residence MI: 5% NY: 6% • Nearly 40% of respondents come from under-represented student group and/or identify as first-generation PA: 4% IL: 4% IN: 3% CA: 16% GA: 3% FL: 5% TX: 9%

6. Profile 1: “Stealth” Applicants

7. Getting Stealth Applicants on Your Radar “Traditional” Search Process Send search piece Enroll Student applies Interested student sends back Postcard/goes on coded microsite to request info Admitted!

8. Noel-Levitz Research Our Research in 2012 Finding Secret Shoppers Our research shows over 80% of students recall receiving outreach from schools they hadn’t heard of before 16% No & Unsure Many students continue to research campuses online without submitting a formal inquiry for more information. 84% Yes Do school communications impact your decision to apply? 2012 Recruitment Funnel Benchmarks Report Close to 70% of those respondents said that those forms of outreach had no impact on their decision to apply First-year students who failed to identify themselves before applying. 2012 Student recruitment trends study Rates shown are median rates

9. The College Search College websites, search engines most used; All resources used most for initial research The college’s .edu site Online search sites • Online and non-online sources used throughout the application process College board website Information on other website Gather and share info via social media Direct mail from schools I didn’t request info from Materials from a College fair Emails from schools I didn’t request info from Direct mail from schools I did request info from Campus Tour Speak to a college counselor Speak to faculty at the college Speak to admissions officers at the college Q10. Which non-online resource(s) did you or would you use during each phase of the college application process?Q11. Which online resource(s) did you or would you use during each phase of the college application process? (Select all that apply)

10. Unsolicited Communications Direct mail and email declining in relevance; Only effective 18% of time • Influence the communications had on application decision • Recall of unsolicited direct mail Influence of un-solicited communication decreased by 45% 2012 2012 84% 2013 33% 2013 74% Recall of direct mail decreased by 12%from 2012-2013 18% Q15. Did you receive messages (email, phone calls, or mail in your mailbox) from schools you had not heard of before starting your college search? (select all that apply) Q16. To what extent did any of these communications influence your decision to apply to any of these schools?

11. Unsolicited Mail Still, 55% of students throw out the bulk of unsolicited direct mail 59% of students with GPAs 3.6+ read less than half of their unsolicited mail Vs. 47% of those with GPAs under 3.6 More than half of respondents threw away half or more of the unsolicited mail they received (consistent with 2012) Q12. Colleges often send mail (actual paper – brochures, pamphlets, letters) to high school students with the hope of getting that student interested in considering that college. The next few questions deal with this unsolicited mail. Thinking of the mail in your mailbox you received from colleges that you didn’t specifically request, how much of that mail did you read?

12. Getting Stealth Applicants on Your Radar Today’s College Search Enroll Student applies Student researches you on sites like Zinch, College Prowler, etc Send search piece Admitted!

13. Top Online Resources CollegeBoard.com and Zinch are top online sources where students hear about schools Online sources where they heard about colleges researched Q6. Through which online resources (websites and social media) did you hear about the colleges you researched?

14. The Zinch Cloud 68% of students researching colleges use a site in the cloud Real-time access to students searchingfor you across the web

15. Profile 2: The Lurker

16. Should colleges have a social media presence? Over three-quarters think colleges should have a presence on social media to reach students • Should colleges have social • media presence? • Why? • Why Not? Because of social media sites, I found colleges that I would have never heard of otherwise. I think social media allows schools to become too personal with their students. Q8. Do you think colleges should have a social media presence? Please explain why you feel that way. (among those graduating in 2013 and later)

17. Following schools on social media Half follow or like a school on social media • Follow or like a considered college on social media • Schools students follow or like on social media Q22. Did you “follow or like” a college you were considering going to on a social media service?Q23. Which schools did you "follow or like" on social media? (leave blank if none)

18. Social media usage Half use Facebook multiple times a day Instagram passes Twitter as second most active true social network • Use of Social Media • Q3. How often do you use the following different social media websites?

19. Shifts in social media usage Facebook maintains importance, use of visual platforms increases by 50% In our 2012 study, Instagram and Pinterest were barely on the map. In 2013 both networks saw an increase in adoption of over 50% • Use of social media (2013 vs 2012) • Q3. How often do you use the following different social media websites?

20. Facebook maintains relevance Facebook ranks first among social media sites visited for college information followed by YouTube. • Frequency of viewing social media for colleges considered attending • Q12. How often do you view the following social media sites for college/universities you have considered attending?

21. Social media and enrollment 7 in 10 use social media in deciding where to enroll; up nearly 2x from 2012 • Use social media in deciding where to enroll All 2013 respondents Q9. Did you (or would you) use social media as a resource when deciding where to enroll? Q10. How influential was social media during your college search? (among those who did use social media to decide where to enroll)

22. Social media and enrollment Nearly 40% of the 2013 respondents that used social media said ithas influenced their decision • Of the 75% of the class of 2013, 38% of those respondents said they were influenced by social media. Q9. Did you (or would you) use social media as a resource when deciding where to enroll? Q10. How influential was social media during your college search? (among those who did use social media to decide where to enroll)

23. Most valuable information Most valuable information on schools’ social media sites • Q14. What information was valuable for you from schools' social media sites?

24. Profile 3: The Broke Scholar

25. Top Challenges for College-Bound Students • What are the biggest challenges of today’s graduating high school students who want to enter college?

26. Sticker Price Still Matters Will parents restrict choices, based on tuition rates? 68%

27. Sticker Price Still Matters 54% Over Half Percent of students who judge a college’s expense by sticker price alone (without considering aid)* Students with low income + high ability not applying to a single competitive college** *College Board and Art & Science Group Survey – 2012 **Hoxby and Avery - 2012

28. Students Attending a Wide Range of Schools • School attending/planning to attend Q24. If you have applied to and been accepted by a college, what school did you end up attending / are you planning to attend? (Please leave blank if you haven't applied or heard back yet)

29. How will my kid get a job? Vocational schools and not going to college at all are well represented amongst respondents Liberal Arts Education is lowest amongst “strongly agree” responses

30. What are employers saying? 95% 93% Agree that “Our company puts a priority on hiring people with the intellectual and interpersonal skills that will help them contribute to innovation in the workplace.” Agree that: “A candidate's demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than undergraduate major.” *Association of American Colleges & Universities - 2012

31. Profile 4: The Under-Served

32. Student research frequency The number is high, but below widely adopted industry perception • Number of schools researched before applying • Students applied • to an average of5.4 schools • Though many are still waiting for responses, students have been accepted into an average 3.1 schools so far Q3. How many colleges did you research (visit, view websites, read about in guidebooks, read about in publications) before deciding to apply? Q21. To how many colleges do you plan to apply/did you apply? Q23. To how many colleges were you accepted? (leave blank if you haven’t applied yet)

33. # of Applications Submitted Percent of students who applied to 10+ colleges by ethnicity

34. Communication Influence Response Unsolicited Outreach by Demographic

35. The College-Bound 50%+ of students will attend 4 year college in 2/3 of schools; In the majority of schools over 25% of students are 1st generation college students • Percentage of student population going to a 4-year college • Percent of students who are first-generation 68% 57% • What percentage of your school’s graduating seniors go on to attend a four year college? • What percentage of your students are considered first generation college students?

36. Top Challenges for Counselors • What are the biggest challenges you face as a counselor?

37. Personal Contact Personal contact maintains level of importance throughout the process The college’s .edu site • Sources used throughout the application process Online search sites College board website Information on other website Gather and share info via social media Direct mail from schools I didn’t request info from Materials from a College fair Emails from schools I didn’t request info from Speaking to college counselor and faculty at college saw large increase in early stages YOY Direct mail from schools I did request info from Campus Tour Speak to a college counselor Speak to faculty at the college Speak to admissions officers at the college Q10. Which non-online resource(s) did you or would you use during each phase of the college application process?Q11. Which online resource(s) did you or would you use during each phase of the college application process? (Select all that apply)

38. Ethnicity and social media Hispanic Students and African Americans most value interaction with admissions counselors on social media • Very important to interact with: • Q20. How important was/is it for you to interact with the following people via social media? (very important)

39. Thank you! TeegeMettille tmettille@northland.edu Gil Rogers gil@zinch.com