The College of New Jersey recruits students based on three criteria: diversity in terms of culture and geography, programs they want to increase enrollment in like arts and music, and academic performance. They begin recruiting juniors in high school through lists of students who have taken the SATs. Rider University also recruits juniors and seniors but may come across underclassmen who are a good fit. They offer generous scholarships up to $21,000 to make the school affordable. Strayer University recruits adult students averaging 35 years old through referrals, orientations, and advising since they don't actively recruit.

2. 6 MERCER BUSINESS / AUGUST 2012
COVER STORY HIGHER EDUCATION BY: SCOTT CULLEN
Finding the Right Fit
[ Recruitment efforts tend to focus on juniors and seniors
although they may run across the occasional freshman
or sophomore visiting the campus that turns out to be
a good fit. ]
But what makes those students a good fit for these schools? What do colleges look for when
recruiting students, what packages and perks do they offer to get the best students, and at
what age do they start looking at high school students?
The College of New Jersey
The incoming class of freshman at The College of New Jersey totals 1,375. That group was
selected from some 10,000 applicants.
Matt Middleton, associate director of admissions at TCNJ, says the college tends to focus
on three areas in its recruitment efforts. “We’re looking for students from multicultural
backgrounds and students from outside the state—about 93 percent of our students are from
New Jersey so we’re always trying to be more geographically diverse.”
Recruitment efforts also depend on what programs the college is looking to increase
enrollment. “We have some programs we’re trying to grow, particularly the arts and music so
we make an effort to recruit students interested in those areas,” adds Middleton. “Every year
we look at our campus and where we can do better in terms of our population.”
This past year TCNJ was concerned about their ability to attract education majors and
whether or not students were scared off by the fact that teaching positions are far and few
between. “We were more cognizant of that in the beginning of the recruitment year, although
that didn’t turn out to be an issue,” says Middleton.
As most colleges do, TCNJ purchases the names of students (about 30,000-40,000 names a
year) who have taken their college boards from ETS. These students usually fit some of the
criteria noted above as well as academic criteria. “This is a competitive school so we’re looking
for students with strong GPAs, who did well in their PSAT’s, and students we think would be
successful academically,” notes Middleton.
Recruitment efforts usually begin in the spring of a student’s junior year of high school. Those
students often come from the aforementioned lists. Occasionally the stray freshman or sophomore
starting their college search contacts the school. Junior Visit Days expose prospective students
to TCNJ and educate them on how the college admissions process works. “We talk about the
application process, financial aid; ultimately it has a TCNJ spin but it’s more focused on how to
get families started on the process,” says Middleton. “Over the summer and beginning of
all is on the way and with it a new school year as local colleges and universities
open their doors to a new class of freshman. Those new students will be
embarking on a four-year journey that will hopefully meet their expectations
as well as the expectations of the schools that either recruited them or selected
them from a trove of applicants.F
Anthony Uva
Dr. David Feeney
How Local Colleges

3. AUGUST 2012 / MERCER BUSINESS 7www.mercerbusiness.com
senior year is when we visit high schools, meet with school
counselors, meet with students, and talk about the school.”
Middleton spends a lot of time reviewing transcripts and
the classes the prospective students are taking. The focus is
mostly on their junior year along with the courses they’re
taking as a senior. “Colleges care about that senior year
and if the student is continuing to challenge themselves,”
says Middleton.
He’ll also look at the student’s first marking period
grades in their senior year. “If they’re lousy that can keep
a student from getting in. We look at the whole picture
and I want to see trends and improvement as opposed to
going in the other direction. Ultimately it’s how they’ve
done over the four years of high school.”
Since TCNJ is a public school the financial perks are pretty
straightforward. There’s a scholarship program based on
two criteria—high school class rank and the student’s best
standardized test score. “We have an internal grid that looks
at those two criteria and if you have a certain class rank or
test score you get X number of dollars,” explains Middleton.
“That’s prettymuchallweofferintermsoffinancialincentives.”
There’s also needs-based financial aid, but since TCNJ is
a public school that’s pretty much set by the govern-
ment/state. “We can’t negotiate financial aid packages like
a Rider who can offer students whatever they want,” notes
Middleton. “We have to be up front with students from the
beginning. We have merit scholarships, needs-based aid
based on the family’s income but what you’re getting is
what we’re offering. That’s hard for families because they
think it’s like a car purchase and they can keep going back
and forth and it’s ‘this other school offered me this and this
other school offered me that.’ I always say to families you
need to remember it’s not just the final cost, it’s what value
are you getting for that cost? There are certainly schools
that are less expensive than us but they generally have
much larger class sizes and more commuter students and a
different feel to it in terms of the experience.”
Rider University
Rider University received more than 7,500 applications
for this year’s freshman class, which will be narrowed
down to a total of about 900. Some of those will have
been recruited directly by the college.
What Rider looks for is not all that big of a surprise, the
courses a student has taken through their junior year and
into their senior year and how well they performed in
those classes. “Students understand it’s important to per-
form in the classroom and do well on a day-to-day basis but
they don’t always understand the magnitude of it, espe-
cially on a continuum making sure they maintain the aca-
demic rigor into their senior year,” says Susan Christian,
dean of enrollment at Rider. “Some students at the end of
their senior year feel ‘I already have my X-number of units
I don’t need to take as much, I won’t take as heavy a load
in my senior year.’ That’s not a good thing.”
Recruitment efforts tend to focus on juniors and seniors
although they may run across the occasional freshman or
sophomore visiting the campus that turns out to be a
good fit. “Many times at the prospect level we don’t have
academic information on students so in terms of reaching
out to them when we recruit, we are recruiting in areas
where we typically draw or want to see improvement in
that area—recruiting geographically in areas where we
haven’t had that many students and where we know
there’s potential,” explains Christian.
She’s been at Rider for 20 years and adds that the college
has long had an aggressive recruitment plan in terms of
increasing diversity on campus. “That’s something that has
been a priority and we’ve done an excellent job of that,”
states Christian. “Around 25 percent of our entering class
will be a diverse group, ethnically, culturally, geographically,
and we’ve expanded our outreach geographically and now
have a recruiter as far away as California.”
What can prospects expect from Rider? “Affordability
today and cost is a big issue for most families and we
Recruit Students

4. try to make Rider affordable for as
many families as possible,” responds
Christian. “In doing that we offer
needs-based aid and a generous
merit scholarship program so stu-
dents based on their academic crite-
ria could qualify for scholarships up
to $21,000. That’s how we are reach-
ing out and trying to attract the stu-
dents that we really want.”
Strayer University
It’s a different story at Strayer
University, with campuses throughout
the U.S., including Lawrenceville.
They don’t do recruiting because most
students are adults with an average
age of 35. A large percentage of
students are women. Dr. David Feeney,
dean of Strayer’s Lawrenceville campus
explains what the average Strayer
student is looking for in their college
experience and the expectations
Strayer has for them.
“They’re just like you and me.
They’ve been in the workforce for
several years, want that next level of
management, want that new career,
want that better job, and to a large
extent they’ve done their homework.
They want to know about class size,
about student support systems, and
convenience features that Strayer
offers, not just in the classes but on
the campus as well.”
Undergraduate business programs
are always popular at Strayer and of
late so is the criminal justice pro-
gram. No matter what the program,
older students returning to school
face some challenges and that’s
where Strayer staff and faculty can
help. The biggest challenge, says
Feeney, is having an accurate percep-
tion of the time investment of going
to school and doing the work.
“This is a significant investment no
doubt about it,” he says. “What we try
to telegraph to the students during the
admissions process, in the orientation,
and down the line through their pro-
gram is accurately gauging the week
and amount of time. Many of these
students are adjusting their schedules
and getting back into the rhythm of a
rigorous college program. Some have
perceived barriers and we try to
demystify topics for adult learners
who are getting back to that process
for the first time in many decades or
if it’s their first time through.”
What are some of the things adult
students should be thinking about
before they start their education at
Strayer to make it the most rewarding?
“It starts with clear goals and clear
vision on the student’s part and we
work backwards from the horizon
point of graduation to emphasize
realistically the time commitment,
give them a strong support network
on campus,” responds Feeney. “They
commit to a program and to a large
extent we commit to them with a lot
of built in accountability and other
processes each quarter that campus
leadership, staff and faculty do in
order to have the expectations on us
and the expectations on them.”
It’s also important that family
members acknowledge the challenge
and lend their support, recognizing
this is an important endeavor and
that the student needs some time to
do their assignments and keep up
with the work.
If there’s any one quality Strayer
students have Feeney says it’s that
they’re driven. “They have a purpose
and goal in life and often it’s linked
to their careers. They want a rigorous
academic program they can be proud
of and associated with success.”
While students aren’t recruited at
Strayer like they are at traditional
college campuses, it doesn’t matter
because what they’ll find there is a
nurturing atmosphere. “There’s the
baked in default process Strayer
requires of faculty and staff and cam-
pus leadership,” says Feeney refer-
ring to new student orientations that
are available each quarter on campus
and flexibly online, and mandatory
first quarter advising for the critical
first and second quarters.
“Sometimes that’s make or break
for a new student,” notes Feeney.
“Tutoring is baked into our campus
classes and faculty is ready to work
with any student. Students have
come to rely on that.”
Dean Feeney and Strayer’s director
make alliances with community and
national partners such as Home
Depot and Verizon, visit businesses,
and attend other events in the com-
munity. Referrals are another way
the word gets passed along to
prospective students. It’s not unusual
for students to refer family members.
“Very often a campus like ours is a
family affair,” states Feeney.
For colleges that need extra help in
their recruiting efforts, particularly
when it comes to rounding out their
athletic programs with student ath-
letes, college recruiting services such
as S/B Athletic Resource fills the void.
S/B Athletic Resource focuses on 26
different varsity sports, including less
prominent ones such as golf, tennis,
and cheerleading. What they’re look-
ing for are students who are at least
an average athlete or an average stu-
dent. They have to be playing a varsi-
ty sport and have earned some sort
of accolade in that.
“Maybe they’re honorable men-
tion, all league or been playing with
the varsity for the two years or
they’ve been playing on their club
team or are a captain or travel a lot
with a club team,” says Anthony Uva,
a recruiter with S/B Athletic Resource.
“They don’t have to be above aver-
age—and not many kids are above
average. Less than 1 percent of the
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5. students out there are students that
are going to end up playing in the
NBA, major league baseball, NFL or
something like that. We’re looking at
the next tier, the other 99 percent.”
Many colleges use S/B Athletic
Resource as a recruiting tool and the
challenge for Uva is sending them
quality student athletes so they’ll
keep using the service.
“We match up the kids based on
their academics as well as athletics,”
says Uva. “A lot of college coaches
call us and tell us what they’re look-
ing for that particular year and we
send out the kids based on the
requirements they’re looking for.”
What colleges are looking for varies
from year to year and often each
coach is looking to fill specific needs
on a team or in a given sport. “They
like working with third-party compa-
nies like ours because they don’t have
to beat around the bush,” says Uva.
“They can tell us straight out if the
student is a good fit whereas if a par-
ent calls, it’s harder for them to say
that. Because we’re dealing with [the
colleges] on a daily basis they can be
more up front with us about the types
of kids they’re looking for.”
Unlike the colleges, third-party
recruiting services can’t make any
promises about grants or scholar-
ships. “The only ones that can do that
is the colleges themselves,” states
Uva. “We’re like a headhunter for a
job, we get the name out there, we
get in front of them, then it’s up to
the student and school. Because we
pick good quality kids we have a
good ratio of them getting money at
the college level.”
A/B Athletic Resource tends to start
working with students while their
sophomores and juniors. “That’s
because college coaches can see how
they’re progressing, what’s going on,
and how they’re doing in school and
in their sports,” says Uva.
Whether they’re students fresh out
of high school or adults going back
to school after being in the work-
force for a number of years, this is a
time where everyone has an oppor-
tunity for a new start when colleges
open their doors in the fall and dis-
cover whether the new recruits are
going to fulfill their dreams and
meet the college’s expectations. n
AUGUST 2012 / MERCER BUSINESS 9
FINDING THE RIGHT FIT
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