Money, Money, Money

Cool! My university just paid me 300 USD for referring a friend of mine. He did all the research and found the university by himself but as there is a referral program, we split the money and take some of it to organize a party for our friends.

I'm planning to do the same with a couple of other friends. It's very easy money! They would have come even without my recommendation but if they pay... 

Some classmates even started requesting compensation when they are asked to attend an Open House or any other commercial activity for the Student Recruitment team. 

Eduardo's University is certainly not the only one that is trying this formula: Incentivize financially current students and even alumni to boost enrollment. 

A good idea

It seems like a good idea. The candidates who are applying through a referral are already convinced to join the university. They have first-hand information from current students who they trust. No more work needs to be done by the Student Recruitment or the Admissions Team. Easy. There is no need to spend money on education fairs to gain brand recognition, retargeting on social media, or follow-up e-mails from the recruitment team. You can even be a little bit more flexible in scholarship decisions. The CPA (Cost per acquisition) is only the commission paid to the referring student. That's a fraction of spending on the usual nurturing of the candidate pipeline. Besides, there is no better conversion than 100%! All the uncertainty is gone... 

A better idea

Putting money into the university-student relationship can be a double-edged sword. As explained, it can be a straightforward way to increase enrollments for a particular intake. Students might get greedy over time and ask for more money. If the recruitment cohort depends on a large % of these referrals, soon the university might be held hostage. At the same time, this referral program might be open only to a selected few. This might create envy or hostility toward those who haven't been chosen or simply might not have the network to get referrals. Think about first-time university goers or students depending on scholarships as they might not have the means to attend education. Ultimately, it can create tensions between various stakeholders and though it creates an enrollment boost, it has a lot of undesirable side effects.

There can be many other ways to get students involved, help recruit students and grow the community. Some universities have built Student Ambassador programs that connect current students with the variety of activities of the admissions and recruitment teams. The incentive: valuable exposure, networking opportunities with senior members of the university, and even invitations to selected high-profile university events. For more senior profiles the incentive could be access to upskilling courses the university offers and similar event privileges. Just make them feel special - without money. 

An even better idea

Let's finish with an even bigger idea... The building of a community, and creating a sense of belonging and pride should be the ultimate goal of an academic institution. This is the idea of the University Success Loop, a framework developed by eduALTO.

There is no shortcut. You won't see the result in the next intake. It will take time and a long-term financial commitment to invest in building this community. The benefits are obvious: students and alumni help recruit students by referrals as they take pride in representing the university on any occasion. The incentive is the honor to promote the university, the honor to engage with the community, and, ultimately, the honor to give back. So, the larger the community of proud students and alumni grows, the CAGR is growing and it creates a snowball effect.