Liaison International: Streamlining the Enrollment Process with Institution-Wide Data and Responsive, Cross-Media Marketing

Schools are constantly looking for ways to improve enrollment, increase yield, and matriculate bestfit students. But more spending on IT doesn’t always guarantee better enrollment results. Liaison International is trying to change that dynamic by providing a suite of cloud-based admissions management and enrollment marketing software and services to help schools streamline processes, aggregate enrollment data from across their campuses, and reach students in the highly personalized way that they expect.

“Schools are looking to improve the efficacy of their recruitment efforts—specifically yield and retention. They’re learning that purchasing more lists or reaching out to larger audiences does not automatically translate into quality applicants. Today, more and more institutions are seeking better ways to build relationships with applicants and that means adopting oneto- one outreach practices that are scalable, cost-effective, and driven by data that will make those efforts successful,” explains Michael Behringer, CEO and President of Liaison.

The company’s Centralized Application Service (CASTM) is its lynchpin product, which it offers through more than 30 educational associations in disciplines such as medicine, nursing, and public health. Deployed to more than 5,000 schools and programs, CAS manages the enrollment process for undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs. Its sophisticated back end software allows educational institutions to evaluate their applicants, manage enrollment workflow, and communicate with applicants. Applicants are able to submit their credentials through a simple online interface— and apply to multiple institutions. CAS also provides critical data schools can use for analysis and planning. When administrators at Rush University College of Nursing saw consistently fewer applications from minority and male students, it used data from their CAS to gain a better understanding of attrition at various enrollment stages and adjusted its communication strategy accordingly. As a result, Rush University College of Nursing experienced a 5 percent increase in admitted minority and male students.