US higher education institutions have experienced growing difficulties in their recruitment of students in recent years. Alongside a population drop in the number of US citizens coming of age in 2025, institutions also face the issue of fewer traditional students enrolling.
However, there is a huge potential in recruiting non-traditional students. This category covers various demographics, such as mature students, single parents and those with incomplete college results, and offers an untapped market. AI can ensure that onboarding them is easy and help these students get off to a flying start in their studies.
Issues in recruiting
Recruitment of students has typically relied on manual, time-consuming processes using methods like printed marketing materials, in-person fairs, and generic email outreach that often fails to provide the personalized experiences certain prospective students require. Furthermore, these types of methods can sometimes alienate non-traditional candidates and make it less accessible to them.
Manual outreach, for example, limits admissions officers to only contact a limited number of prospective students per day, week, or month and this will normally be soon-to-be school graduates. This inefficient process also lacks data-driven insights to target the right students who are more likely to enroll, such as the likes of mature learners. Generic, batch-and-blast emails or printed materials sent to a broad audience have diminishing returns, with low open and response rates.
There is also the issue of finances, according to Mary Curnock Cook, former chief executive of the UK higher education body UCAS: “Student recruitment has always been about both quantity and quality — quality in terms of diversity and entry qualifications. Now it’s more complex because many courses are loss making due to the freeze on domestic tuition fees.
"Universities are having to look at the mix across more or less expensive-to-deliver courses as well as international vs domestic fee-paying students to balance their finances.” This makes the recruitment of the untapped market of non-traditional students even more important to colleges and universities.
Using AI to target
Non-traditional students can instead be targeted using AI using a personalized approach, enabling colleges to analyze data, automate processes, and deliver customized experiences.
Ai interactive chatbots allow prospective students to get quick answers to common questions and guide them through the application process 24/7. For example, a time-poor single parent who is unable to attend a fair can instead use a chatbots to gain important information specific to their unique situation instantly outside normal business hours. This will not only create a more engaging experience but increases the chances of this candidate choosing the institution to study at.
How ContactEngine can help
This is where ContactEngine's proactive conversational AI comes in. Our technology offers institutions the opportunity to help recruit non-traditional students and tailor the experiences of these growing student demographics, ensuring that the joining process is easy and that they can get off to a flying start.
ContactEngine's proactive conversational AI could also be used to offer non-traditional students a range of items once they have joined, such as educations services like extra courses and learning materials; or perhaps more general lifestyle-based products such as upgrades on meals and accommodation. There are also social elements that could targeted, e.g. events and drink offers.
More importantly, our proactive conversational AI enables institutions to engage with this growing demographic, keeping them engaged in a personalized conversation until their issues are resolved. As a result, making them feel more comfortable in an environment they’re not use to.
