Recruitment from Logan eyes

This archived article was written by: Mara Wimmer

Every person affiliated with USU or any of its extensions and campuses felt the effects of the joining of all the offices; however, the offices of enrollment and recruiting felt it in the shift of responsibilities. Instead of only dealing with enrolling students of one location, it is a statewide ordeal. Any students planning on, or already attending USU, goes through one office.
“The change has significantly impacted the office of admissions,” Craig Whyte, associate director of enrollment and recruitment said. “As we are now responsible for the processing of applications and assisting students to become admitted to USU, regardless of which campus they attend throughout the state. We also work with students for the awarding of scholarships, as well as residency. Our scope and area of responsibility has greatly increased over the last year.”
As this is the first year of blending the enrollment and recruiting long-term effects have yet to be seen. All of the campuses are working hand-in-hand to make the transition easy and effective for everyone. Each campus has recruiters that recruit specifically for them, but have information for all of the campuses in the USU. Who knows what impact this will have on the Logan campus,” Whyte said. “But, we do have processes in place to help determine key factors about enrollment at the various campuses. We work very closely with our colleagues at the USU Eastern campuses (Price and Blanding), as well as the regional campuses and sites. We have specific recruiters who represent these campuses, as well as admissions officers who handle applications specific to each campus.”
Diversity is one of the many benefits of attending school at USU, no matter the location. With such a wide variety of courses and resources available.
“We’re still early in the process and following things very closely,” Whyte said. “As we represent USU, as a system – rather than 33 different campuses/sites working independently, we are seeing increased interest from potential students. USU has a ‘fit’ for almost any student and our goal is to help these students find their right ‘fit’ within the USU system. We serve a very large, and diverse student population. Luckily, USU offers something that no other school in the state can offer.”
While USU has some costs involved, it offers more opportunities that many other colleges in the state; however, with the Eastern campuses there is a more budget-friendly option as well.
“There are many benefits. Open access to a quality, Tier-1 research institution – regardless of location throughout the state, or nation, if we look at online programs,” Whyte said. “Students aren’t required to move away from home to have access to USU. For the most part, we’re in everyone’s community!
Secondly, I would argue value is a major benefit for students. It is true that our costs are higher than other colleges or universities in the state – but the quality of the programs, with access to Division-1 sports, research/hands-on-learning, residential campuses and many other things, is hard to match.”
USU is dedicated to its students and making their schooling years the best they can. What may seem simple for a student to accomplish is not always easy behind the scenes. Staff works tirelessly to ensure students can maximize on all the resources offered at USU.
“One thing that we’re working very hard on is the ease/availability of USU to students throughout USU,” Whyte said. “If a student wants to take a class in Blanding, then Salt Lake followed by online, and then Logan, we can accommodate that. But, it isn’t a ‘natural’ thing that automatically happens. It requires processes, technology, training and a lot of work behind the scene to ensure it happens. What often is ‘student friendly’ can be challenging to implement on the back-end. It requires a dedicated staff to ensure things actually work.”
The road a head with this new system is unknown, but USU wants to offer students everything they can reasonably can. As problems arise they will be dealt with and fixed, he said.
“Decisions aren’t made quickly and they are not made without a lot of research and analysis,” Whyte said. “It has been a smart move in that wwe’re providing more options and resources to students, both prospective and current, than they’ve ever had before. The change in recruitment, scholarships, marketing and admissions should create positive results for years to come. We know there are a handle full of challenges and obstacles, but we work through these as they arise.”