In today’s higher education landscape, admissions teams need to look beyond traditional high school pipelines to connect with students from alternative schools. These students are promising prospects for recruitment because, as Brightmont Academy’s guide to alternative schools emphasizes, “Many nontraditional school models emphasize independent study, self-advocacy, and critical thinking, so these students frequently arrive on college campuses already equipped with the executive function skills necessary for academic success.”
Reaching these students, however, comes with unique challenges and requires a strategic approach. In this guide, we’ll explore strategies you can use to connect with qualified candidates who bring a unique perspective and skill set to your college campus from their alternative schooling background.
Source comprehensive alternative school data.
Expanding your applicant pool is always challenging, but reaching students at alternative schools is particularly tricky. Standard demographic lists and high school databases frequently overlook specialized learners, so proactively seeking out specialized data providers is often the best way to identify alternative-school prospects.
Look for a student data solution partner that offers:
- Specialization in hard-to-reach data: To reach students in alternative schools, you need a partner who will look beyond standardized test data to other types of information that are more useful in recruiting nontraditional students. By actively sourcing specialized metrics, your admissions team can bypass traditional prospecting limitations and build a more robust, diverse recruitment pipeline.
- Profiles for targeted populations: Your team wants to ensure students from nontraditional schools are a fit for your institution. Your data partner should allow you to add filters for factors like GPA, location, and extracurriculars to confirm prospects’ potential.
- Online outreach: With the right tool, you can send online advertisements to students based on their alternative school’s location. This allows you to deliver digital ads to students on their devices while they’re on campus, and continue reaching them afterward across their devices when they leave, helping your institution stay top of mind with students who might not otherwise discover your programs.
By diversifying your search metrics, you can position yourself to secure high-intent students before they become overwhelmed with options during the application cycle.
Prioritize data privacy in your recruitment campaigns.
Once you identify your prospect pool, ensuring the ethical and secure handling of their information is a critical next step to maintain compliance and establish trust with future applicants. Protecting prospective student data requires you to:
- Adhere to privacy standards: As you collect prospect information, your institution needs to follow digital privacy regulations and ethical outreach standards. This means abiding by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and any state-specific regulations.
- Train your recruitment staff: All admissions counselors and support staff should be thoroughly trained in data security best practices to prevent leaks and maintain institutional integrity. Conduct routine cybersecurity workshops to keep data hygiene top of mind for every team member handling sensitive applicant files.
- Communicate transparently with prospects: When expanding outreach to include alternative students, communicate how their information will be used and protected. Establishing clear privacy protocols protects your institution from compliance risks while fostering trust with prospective applicants.
Proactively displaying your privacy policy on inquiry forms helps prospective students and families understand how their information will be collected, used, and protected. Secure, transparent data practices ultimately lead to higher engagement rates and more completed applications.
Build targeted marketing strategies for unique learners.
With a secure and comprehensive prospect list in hand, you’re ready to deploy messaging that resonates with students from nontraditional academic backgrounds. A personalized outreach approach differentiates your institution from competitors relying on generic mass emails, but it requires a strong understanding of your audience to succeed.
First, it’s important to familiarize yourself with various nontraditional academic settings. Even though magnet schools, nature schools, and therapeutic boarding schools can all be considered alternative learning environments, each offers a distinct educational experience.
Decide what types of alternative schools your college is interested in targeting. For example, students from personalized learning schools often develop strong accountability and academic confidence, which makes them a good fit for many higher education institutions. Similarly, those from magnet high schools can be a good fit for colleges hoping to grow a specific program.
After defining your intended audience, FreeWill’s guide to creating a marketing plan suggests you identify your desired target actions and decide which marketing channels align with your goal and audience. For example, you might email students at individualized learning schools a sign-up link for a virtual Q&A session with one of your students who attended an alternative one-to-one school to help these students to envision what their future might look like at your college.
Across your marketing materials, you should ensure your messaging addresses the specific considerations of alternative students. Highlight any applicable campus resources on how your college supports students transitioning from alternative education models to a more traditional higher education environment. Tailored communication demonstrates that your institution values diverse academic backgrounds, ultimately improving conversion rates.
Alternative education populations are an underutilized pool that can future-proof your enrollment figures. If you can find these students and leverage their data responsibly to initiate a meaningful connection that speaks to their interests and experiences, you’ll not only strengthen your enrollment pipeline but also bring uniquely qualified students to your institution. Evaluate your current data sourcing tools to identify gaps in your specialized prospecting strategy and work from there to boost applications.
