Last March, a wave of change rolled through universities across the world. Students were sent home for virtual coursework, and college campuses were shut down indefinitely. At a time where college enrollment rates were already on the decline, the pandemic only made things worse: in Spring 2021, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported a 5.9 percent decline in undergraduate enrollment, with community college falling by almost twice as much at 11.3 percent. Low-income students, first-generation students, and international students were especially vulnerable to scrapping college plans entirely, opting for a gap year, or abandoning their applications in lieu of employment opportunities.
As we enter another uncertain academic year, how can institutions interact with students in an intentional way to recruit, engage, and retain them for the fall semester and beyond?
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