If you work at a four-year institution, are you overlooking a tremendous under-tapped pool of enrollment prospects? If you’re not intentionally recruiting community college students, you may be missing out.

How would prospective students rate a visit to your campus? —Apart from the attractive landscape and stately buildings, the impressive credentials and classroom content. Beyond the presentation of social activities and athletic events. How well are they welcomed?

With enrollment in gap year programs up 23% since 2015, if your institution is overlooking this trend, then you may be missing a key contingent of prospective students. While the idea of a “year off” between high school and college is not new, what’s different is the breadth of students the idea is attracting. An investigative report with Katie Couric finds that the gap year is “not just for rich kids anymore.”

In last week’s post, “Words Matter,” we considered how excellent writing gives your institution a competitive edge. This week, let’s dig in to some of the how-to’s of producing powerful marketing copy for your school.

Does your institution's brand need a 180° shift?

Probably not. When evaluating your marketing approach, it’s tempting to think about doing something entirely new. Different. Out-of-the box. Powerful. And yes, likely expensive.

How could two universities—one in Buffalo, New York, and the other in Sydney, Australia—come up with marketing campaigns that look almost interchangeable? That’s the question presented in a recent article, “Your Future Starts Here. Or Here. Or Here” in Inside Higher Ed.

An effective marketing campaign does not have to be complicated. Here are some simple tips to keep you on track

So you’re ready now to wave the welcome banner for prospective international students. Maybe you’ve mastered the art of communicating with American students, but international relations still seems like, well… another world. And indeed it is.

We all know that international students are coming to the U.S. in record numbers. But did you realize that number is now approaching one million? According to the 2015 report of the New York-based Institute of International Education (IIE), the growth rate has been growing steadily, to last year’s increase of 10% over 2014.

Earlier this month, the Harvard Graduate School of Education published a report calling for a number of reforms in the college admissions program. Fifty deans and other college and university educators signed on to the report, which is titled “Turning the Tide.”