The Future of Student Services Will Be Decided By
Today’s First Graders
Susan Hallenbeck, Ph.D.
Product Manager, Student
Datatel, Inc.
The entering class of 2020
was born in 2002
This was probably the last year of the
Millennial cohort (which started in 1982)
We don’t know what the next cohort will be
called yet…
Demographic Realities
U.S. Public & Non-Public HS Graduates
4000000
3500000
3000000
2500000
2000000
1500000
1000000
500000
0
Public Graduates
Source: Knocking at the College Door, 2008
Non-Public
Total
On the other hand…
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Projections of
Education Statistics to 2014 (September, 2005)
The Millennials
Unique Cohort Characteristics
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sheltered
Special
Confident
Team-Oriented
Conventional
Pressured
Achieving
Source: Millennials Go to College (2nd Ed.), by Neil
Howe & William Strauss, 2007
The Millennials—Protected/Sheltered
• Perception of children shifted with this
generation
• Parents saw school and societal violence,
disappearing children, and child predators
as real threats
• Children take fewer physical risks, have
less unstructured time
The Millennials—Special
• Parents and family life focused on the children
• Parents are more involved with their children’s
lives and decisions
– 54% of parents report spending more time
with their kids each week than their parents
spent with them at the same age
Source: Millennials Go to College (2nd Ed.), by Neil Howe & William
Strauss, 2007
The Millennials—Confident
• Millennials are optimistic, and parents seem
intent on keeping them that way
• 1.9M Google hits for “teenagers” + “confidence”
• In 2006, 78.2% of female teenagers said they
were ‘definitely’ or ‘pretty sure’ they would
achieve their ideal jobs (65.5% for males)
The Millennials—Team-Oriented
• Expect group projects, used to playing on
teams
• Peer pressure is usually positive
• Social networking reflects their passion for
staying connected
• Believe that people should be concerned
about others and respect one another
The Millennials—Conventional
• Very close ties to parents
• Share important information, feel they can
confide in parents
• 76% of teens say their values are “very” or
“mostly” similar to those of their parents
The Millennials—Conventional
• Believe that government, teachers & other
authority figures have the answers
• Value traditions and rituals
• 61% of college freshmen say they pray
weekly; 28% pray daily*
*Source: The Spiritual Life of College Students, HERI (2004), available at:
http://spirituality.ucla.edu/spirituality/reports/FINAL_EXEC_SUMMARY.pdf
The Millennials—Pressured
• 53% of GenX parents say they push their
kids harder to do well in school than their
parents did
• 75% of parents and 81% of students
strongly agree/agree that “Having a
college degree is more important today
than it was for my generation/my parents’
generation”
Source: Millennials Go to College research (2007)
The Millennials—Pressured
• Want to avoid making mistakes
– Academic major
– Career
• Not interested in “winging it”
• Concentrate on résumé-building
• Tend to have long-term plans for their lives
The Millennials—Achieving
•
•
•
•
Want/need lots of feedback
Expect to be rewarded
Want to be challenged
Until 2005, SAT scores showed steady
increases for Millennial cohorts
Millennials—Not Just Students…
By 2020, the oldest Millennials will be 38…
• The primary cohorts among parents of
college students will be Millennials and
Generation X
How is Life Different for Millennial Kids?
What is it about online gaming?
•
•
•
•
Fast-paced
Highly interactive
Artificial intelligence
Socially engaging
From “Knowledge” to “Search”
“We’ve reached the point in our cultural
adaptation to computing and
communication technology that the
younger generations are so empowered
they are impatient and ready to jettison
institutions most of the rest of us think of
as essential, central, even immortal.
They are ready to dump our schools.”
- Robert Cringely
Communication patterns are changing
e-mail
Texting
IMing
FACEing
Blogging
9 out of 10
teens use Social Networking sites to keep in
touch with those they see frequently
It’s about “keeping it real”
•
•
•
•
•
Emotional
Unpredictable
Always different
Colorful characters
Authentic
Where are Students Going for Info?
• Turning to social networks
• Younger audiences trust peer networks
over professional marketers
• They will create extensive communities
and seek information from these
networks…even though they have never
met IRL
Social Media &
Generational Differences
As customers, Gen X-ers and Gen Y-ers are
more volatile and high-maintenance than
any other generation in history. They are
voracious in their desire for immediate
information and have sophisticated
behavioral approaches to filtering that
information, no matter how many sources it
comes from.
Paul Gillin, The New Influencers (2007)
What kind of address book would
you give to this generation?
Over 300 Million accounts worldwide…
…and over 45 million UNIQUE visitors in October,
2007
“I used to use Instant Messenger, but
now I mostly use Facebook to
communicate with people. I use email
for, like, reaching my coaches or
uncles – older people. Otherwise it’s
either my cellphone or Facebook.”
-- Emily Siegel, 16, Alexandria, VA
Source: The Washington Post Magazine, March 16, 2008
Blogs
Technorati
tracks over 112
MILLION blogs
Sample Blogs
8,979 results for “college admissions”
Seeking authentic voices
…One of my seniors is trying to decide between
ABC University and University of XYZ. Both great
schools. But she is worried that XYZ is out in the
boonies and that she will be missing some
opportunities. So we start looking at what
opportunities she is seeking and how to check
this out. We checked both schools…. XYZ had
blogs...students writing about their experiences at
college.
[The XYZ blogger] just happened to blog about a couple of
things that were key to my student:
• Internships—what are the opportunities…
• Grad school—specifically getting into an MSW--again
[she] helps make real that you can study anything and still
go into an MSW…
• Residence halls—my student has been led to believe that
the residence halls may be party places....but [she] blogs
about the different residence halls and offers up her
opinion.
Now, I do not know if my student will take XYZ over ABC, but
that is not the point. The point is that she has found
authentic voices to explore her interests and concerns
through.
Source: NACAC listerv, April, 2008
• 48% of Internet users have visited videosharing sites
• Daily traffic to such sites has doubled in
one year
• 15% of respondents said they had visited
such a site the previous day
Student Life Videos
• Short, to the
point
• Probably aimed
at prospective
students
• Could also be
useful during
student activity
fairs, etc.
E-Commerce and Lifestyle Retail
• Amazon, iTunes, Netflix
– Predictive
– Adaptive
– Based on collaboration filters
– Uses the community to help drive sales
The key theme for social
networking is…
Collaboration and communication
Implications for Higher Education
Students First…
• Build, maintain and reinforce community
• Use technology to enhance on-line and
off-line relationships
– Blogs
– Portfolios
– Discussion forums
– Online personas
– And keep it highly interactive
Students First…
• Use learning communities, first-year
experience programs
• Provide frequent feedback, inside and
outside the classroom
Students First…
• Concentrate on the future – “Here’s where
we will take you”
• Customized communication – keep it
personal from admissions prospect to
graduation
• Continually demonstrate the value and
benefit for the individual (WIIFM?)
Remember Demographic Issues
• Increasing college participation from
lowest two quintiles of SES
– Potentially underprepared
– Will need extra guidance and advising,
increased learning support services
• Customer service expectations
And Then the Parents…
• Remember that Millennial and Gen-X
parents will be the norm…
• Students and parents will likely
demonstrate a lot of the same
characteristics and expectations
Helicopter Parents…
…becoming personal trainers
“I tend to use the phrase ‘parents as personal
trainers.’ It’s more than just hovering.
In deans’ offices, it’s much more common to meet a
student and have a parent sitting there join the
meeting as well.
The student says: ‘I invited my parents to the
meeting because I think it would be good for them
to hear how I am doing.’
- Fred Wood, Vice Provost, UC Davis
NSSE Results – Parental Involvement
• 13% of first-year, 8% of senior-year
students reported parents frequently
intervened on their behalf
• Both first-years and seniors had ‘frequent’
contact with parents/guardians, and
pattern of contact was consistent
NSSE Results – Parental Involvement
• Students with ‘helicopter’ parents…
– Reported higher levels of engagement &
more frequently using deep learning
activities
– Had greater satisfaction with their college
experience
– Reported greater gains on several desired
college outcomes
– Had significantly lower grades…
Recommendations for Parents
• Show/demonstrate the social aspects and
outcomes of your college as well as the
academic
– How will their children fit in?
– What social/networking opportunities exist?
– What are the professional/grad school
attendance rates?
– Career opportunities/achievements of
graduates?
Recommendations for Parents
• Find a way to deal with FERPA issues
– Develop a streamlined waiver process
• Review curriculum – does it address
career preparation/grad school prep
concerns of parents and students?
• Emphasize career counseling services
Recommendations for Parents
• Be aware of financial concerns
– Be prepared to demonstrate ROI
– Show concrete benefits
• Parents will increasingly demand
accountability and transparency
• Parents expect real-time results, customer
service
They’re on their way…will you be ready?
Susan Hallenbeck, Ph.D.
Product Manager
Datatel, Inc.
slh@datatel.com