Student Lifecycle Model: Higher Education Infographic

Many factors weigh in the decision-making process for prospective students. It's critical for higher education institutions to deliver the right information at the right time. To communicate effectively, it's important to understand the type of messaging that will resonate most with prospective students as they make their way through the student lifecycle from prospect to alumni.

Stages of Student Lifecycle Model: Prospective Student Phase

Prospective students report at high rates (over 85%) that the website is the number one tool for research — even before connecting with an admission counselor. Therefore, it is critical to develop a prospect-focused website that answers key questions to move prospects along the student lifecycle.

Dartmouth College

A Profound Sense of Place

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Student Lifecycle: Current Student Phase

Current students engage with their college or university via mobile apps, LMS, and student portals. They are most frequently looking for day-to-day transactional materials. If this information is not readily accessible through digital channels, they seek out email, phone, text or chat channels to solve a problem or get an answer. Improving this portion of the student lifecycle often includes integrating multiple systems together to provide powerful and useful student portal. 

The Alumni Phase of the Student Lifecycle Model

Engaging alumni — and turning them into advocates for your institution — requires that colleges and universities create a strong "push" communications channel using social and email to reach alumni. Through our research, we've learned that alumni re-engage with an institution during points of transition in their life: job change, a move, divorce, and when children begin considering colleges. Alumni view the website as the authoritative source of information, but visit only when they have a specific need. 

Completing the Student Lifecycle

The goal of the student lifecycle is to generate referral traffic from alumni and reinforce the loyalty loop. Positive feedback from alumni can generate new students, engage alumni in life-long learning, and strengthen the financial position of the school.

This post was originally created in 2014.