Enrollment – Full-Funnel Strategies

A deposited student isn’t the same as an enrolled student. And in the gap between those two moments, a lot can change. Each year, admissions teams work hard to earn a student’s “yes.” But after that deposit is submitted, many institutions reduce their communication, or it evolves to be more transactional. The emotional momentum that carried a student to commit begins to fade. That’s where melt begins. The challenge isn’t just how to get students to deposit. It is how to keep them connected, confident, and excited all the way

Insights from the University of Iowa’s December, 2025 Student Survey The college search process is crowded, emotional, and often overwhelming. Prospective students are navigating campus visits, emails, mailers, conversations, and countless digital touchpoints, all while trying to imagine where they might belong. In the middle of that noise, branded merch can feel a bit small. A t-shirt. A sticker. A pen. But when done intentionally, those items do more than promote a logo. They shape how students feel and what they remember. To better understand the role branded merch plays

College t-shirts have always been a symbol of pride, identity, and belonging. From orientation through graduation, students collect them as souvenirs of their campus experience and wear them proudly to show their affiliation. Recently, however, some institutions are rethinking the traditional T-shirt giveaway in favor of a more intentional approach: the t-shirt swap.   A t-shirt swap asks students to bring in a shirt they no longer wear, often from another college or university, and exchange it for a new branded campus tee. What seems like a simple exchange becomes

Over the past couple of years, Magellan has partnered with colleges and universities to launch branded merch choice stores for admissions and advancement campaigns. Each store is tailored to a specific audience and goal, but across programs, clear patterns emerge in participation, efficiency, and engagement. A choice store is a custom online storefront created for a specific group, such as admitted or deposited students, that allows recipients to select their own branded merchandise from a curated collection. Rather than distributing the same item to everyone, choice stores introduce personalization, create

Every spring, social media fills with proud parents and excited high school seniors celebrating college commitments in creative and colorful ways. Students pose with their acceptance letters, hang yard signs, and wear new collegiate gear. One celebration that continues to gain momentum is the bed party. The trend started during the pandemic and has only grown in size and creativity. Families surprise their student by decorating their bedroom in the school’s colors, complete with balloons, streamers, snacks, and merch. The family then captures the big reveal for social media. It’s

In a time when financial, political, and AI pressures on higher education seem to be at an all-time high, it makes sense for colleges to be cautious. When the future is uncertain, it is natural to approach marketing with caution.   During uncertain times, colleges naturally want to be cautious. But being overly careful with revenue-driving departments like admissions and advancement can be a penny-wise/pound-foolish strategy (one of my favorite phrases from a previous boss). Cutting marketing resources for areas that generate revenue can backfire, potentially creating a downward spiral. Of