The Benefits of Investing in Software for Higher Education

Student recruitment in higher education is an increasingly competitive venture, with high stakes for your school’s profits, profile, and ultimately for its survival. Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen once predicted that half of all U.S. colleges would go bankrupt within the next 10-15 years. What’s driving these kinds of predictions?

A failure to innovate.

Students want a seamless admissions and enrollment process, and colleges and universities that provide this experience stand to make enormous gains. Software for higher education admissions, enrollment, and management offers an intuitive approach that benefits students, schools, administrators, and instructors. Many schools are reluctant to fundamentally shift their approach by investing in software, but the data show that software for higher education can offer a healthier budget, a better student experience, and a competitive edge. 

Here are five key benefits to making the investment in innovative software today.

1. A Better Student Experience

Just a few short years ago, applying to and enrolling in college was an exhausting and stressful experience that required a veritable avalanche of paperwork. Students weren’t the only ones who struggled. Administrators and admissions teams had to keep track of reams of data. 

While computer-based recruitment and enrollment tools have improved things, many schools still struggle with out-of-date technology that’s costly and difficult to manage. As a result, students face admissions and enrollment delays and frustrating interfaces. This is not a good introduction to your institution, and it may make your school less competitive. 

With a shift to cloud-based solutions, you’ll find that lost data, out-of-date interfaces, enrollment delays, and endless piles of paperwork are a thing of the past. Students can quickly apply, track admissions, contact your school, enroll, and more.

Additionally, hand-in-hand with a better student experience is a guaranteed ROI for universities. When more students enroll, a university's revenue goes up, and the institution is able to reap the benefits of a better financial state. 

2. Fewer IT Expenses

Sticking with your current suite of IT products and services might seem like the more affordable option. But when something goes wrong, you will face unexpected expenses to fix it, as well as the cost of delays in services to students. This eats into your budget, but it can also affect your reputation and your ability to recruit new students. The cost can be far-reaching and difficult to quantify. 

With quality software for higher education, you’ll save on a wide range of expenses, including: 

• IT support 
• IT talent 
• Software upgrades 
• Additional resources, such as servers, as your student body grows

3. Easy Collaboration

A college is made up of many departments, and an ever-shifting group of administrators, faculty, and contractors. Cloud-based solutions eliminate the need for department-specific technology. Instead, collaborate across disciplines while ensuring your projects and data are conveniently stored in an accessible location. 

Our platform also offers seamless record-keeping to manage audits, document staff communications, and track data across departments and time. Stakeholders are no longer forced to dig through virtual or real file folders, struggle to remember what was said in a meeting, or waste time tracking down lost student data.

4. Secure Access to Data

Information is power, especially in an academic world where the best colleges and universities continuously gather data on applicants and enrollees. Often this use of data requires a security tradeoff. Students want to know that their information is safe, and federal laws like the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) require a reasonable attention to data security. 

Our cloud-based platform is more secure than traditional options because physical servers are easier to breach. A platform in the cloud also reduces the risk of data loss, even in the wake of serious catastrophes such as natural disasters.

5. A Better-Controlled Budget

Your university depends on access to student data, and students thrive when they can easily access school resources. With cloud-based software, you gain more control over your budget, virtually eliminating unplanned IT expenses. 

You’ll have better technology and more student recruitment tools, but with the benefit of more predictable expenses. This means you can increase enrollment and profitability and cut costs, without having to budget for emergency IT services or the technological expenses of a growing student body.

Software for Higher Education: The Future of Higher Ed Admission

Student experience is critical to your college’s success. The right software supports innovation, grows enrollment, and keeps students engaged, producing successful students and a more profitable institution. 

Full Fabric empowers your admissions teams with best-in-class admissions, enrollment, and student management solutions. Schedule a demo to learn more.