Is
it time for college admissions to acknowledge and embrace its role as higher
education’s sales division? Or is “sales” a dirty word that threatens the
ethical standards that make college admissions a profession? Two posts in Eric
Hoover’s Head Count blog for The
Chronicle of Higher Education during the same week at the end of July highlighted
the two horns of that dilemma.
The
first reported on a presentation at the ACT Enrollment Planners Conference by
Brian William Niles, founder of Target X, a CRM (Customer Relationship
Management) company for higher education.
His presentation was titled, “Five Dirty Words You Need to Start Using
(in Admissions),” with the five words being “customer,” “sales,” “competition,”
“experience,” and “accountability.” At
least some in his audience found those words as offensive and obscene as
network censors once found George Carlin’s Seven Words You Can Never Say on
Television.
That
post was followed several days later by a post about the release of a NACAC
report, “Career Paths for Admission Officers: A Survey Report.” That report, an interesting look at the
challenges faced by our profession in attracting, training, and retaining good
people, revealed that the culture of sales, with increasing pressure to generate
revenue and potential collateral damage to ethical standards, is among the
greatest concerns for members of our profession.
The
tension within college admissions between sales and counseling is not new. It was present when I entered the profession
nearly forty years ago, never dreaming I would stay for longer than a couple of
years (a common story, according to the
NACAC survey). Even then there were
admissions counselors using admissions as a stepping stone for a career in sales
and others with a counseling orientation.
Niles’
ACT presentation argued that admissions offices should embrace their sales
missions, that thinking of admissions staff as sales force will lead to better
training as well as better understanding of the needs and wants of prospective
students. He also argued that admissions
officers should master the “elevator pitch,” able to explain their institution
in 30 seconds.
I
agree that it’s foolish to pretend that college admissions isn’t partly about
sales, especially at institutions that are tuition-driven. But I don’t see
evidence that admissions offices are giving short shrift to the sales dimension.
I see far more young admissions roadrunners today arrive for school visits well
prepared to do their sales presentation, but unable to converse with either
students or counselors about anything other than talking points.
The
dinosaur in me wishes that there was less sales and more counseling in college
admissions. Admissions reps, especially those
who are young, have credibility and influence with high school students, and I
wish they would use that power to educate students about the admissions process
and about the college experience.
Are
the admissions-as-sales and admissions-as-counseling world views
irreconcilable, an Armageddon where one side must win and the other lose? Or is there a balance to be struck between
the two?
There
is nothing inherently wrong with admitting that higher education is a business
or that there is a sales component to college admissions. But are they more than that?
Colleges
and universities need revenue to stay in existence, but a college education is
an experience, not a product, and the mission of any college or university is
broader and more important than generating revenue or profit. Economic considerations are instrumental to
other ends, not the ends themselves.
College
admissions has considered itself a profession dating back to NACAC’s founding
more than 75 years ago. Professionalism
implies dedication to a set of values that extend beyond institutional
interest, values that are the underpinning of the NACAC Statement of Principles
of Good Practice. As a profession, we
recognize that we serve the public interest and not just our own interest. Enrollment and revenue are important for our
employers and for our institution’s health, but we have a more important charge
to help young people make important, life-changing decisions about their
futures.
From
an ethical perspective, the issue is not whether an admissions office is engaged
in sales but what that entails. Are the
admissions staffers engaging in ethical sales practices, trying to meet the student’s/customer’s
needs, or are they trying to close a sale/build enrollment at any cost?
The
difference lies in whose interests the admissions officer acts. Clearly there is a responsibility to the
institution, but that is not the only ethical responsibility present. There is also a responsibility to the student’s
best interests, and there is a responsibility to the profession as well.
Many
years ago I was hired as the Director of Admissions for an independent school
that was in the midst of declining enrollment.
On my first day I met with a young man who was interested in
transferring from another private school for his senior year. He was a full pay, and he could have helped
our football team, but his transcript told me he would struggle to pass math
and graduate, so I advised him to remain at his current school. Later that day my secretary pulled me aside
and told me that the school had never before discouraged a student from
enrolling.
Allowing
that student to come and fail could have damaged both him and the school. Given the declining enrollment it would have
been easy but short-sighted to admit him. The way to build enrollment in the
long run was to build trust in the school program, including the admissions
process.
The
“sales culture” identified in the NACAC report isn’t about sales. It’s a different gift from the business
world, the pursuit of short-term goals in a way that’s short-sighted and
self-serving. College admissions is
founded on public trust, and that trust is put in jeopardy whenever we act out
of our interests rather than the public interest. The dirty word is not sales, but rather
self-interest.
So
how do we defend our profession from an invasive species like the sales
culture? One of the answers is contained
in the NACAC report. The future of our
profession lies in our ability to attract, train, and retain the next
generation of leaders, counselors and admissions professionals who see our work
as a noble calling and who are committed first and foremost to serving students.
The
other solution is finding a way to reach out to our supervisors, the new
generation of college presidents and provosts, and educate them about the
values of the college admissions profession.
I suggested several years ago that NACAC develop programming for that
constituency, and I continue to think that’s a good idea.
