With Unemployment on the Rise, Consider Marketing to Career-Changers No comments yet

For-profit colleges are experiencing significant enrollment growth, while public colleges are suffering. This is the main focus of an article published today by Inside Higher Ed. It reminds us that in difficult economic times when people lose their jobs, many will take the opportunity to return to school. Some will pursue that degree they never finished, or others will obtain training to change careers altogether.

So, why do for-profit colleges get the lion share of these new-found tuition dollars? Well, marketing is a huge part of it. For-profit colleges (and career colleges) have tailored their marketing and branding efforts to reach adult learners. They offer more convenient class times, more flexible learning options, and they base their core messages around “how easy and convenient” going back to school will be at their college. The message is clearly about the benefit to the adult student, and rarely “brags” about the school itself.

Another important aspect of reaching the adult learner is the availability of online courses. Whether it’s a blended program (courses offered both in-classroom and online), or 100% online, for-profit schools have continued to be on the forefront of bringing this technology to the higher education market.

My closing thought is for public colleges—consider retooling a few of your degree and/or certification programs and gear them toward adult learners. If the marketing message is strong, and the program is backed up with more convenient learning options, you can tap into some of these increasing tuition dollars.