Your Higher Education Marketing Link of the Week… University of Mount Union: “Early Deposit Awards Program”… 7 February 2020

Financial & other incentives from University of Mount Union for March 1 Deposit

University of Mount UnionAs just about everyone knows, the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) bowed to pressure from the Department of Education last September when members voted to allow colleges and universities a new range of competitive actions in student recruitment. Among those were special incentives available only to students who sent an enrollment deposit before the traditional May 1 deadline.

University of Mount Union has responded with an array of 22 mostly financial awards for students who make a $150 enrollment deposit by March 1. One click from the home page brings visitors to this listing:

  • An award for the cost of one room for a semester – $2,650

• An award for the cost of one meal plan for a semester – $2,700

• Five awards for textbooks – $500

• Five awards to cover the cost of parking passes for one year – $100

• Ten awards for early class registration passes

How well is this going to work to increase deposits received by March 1? And give people something tangible to lose if they change their decision before the fall semester? Only the folks at Mount Union can answer that.

There’s a caveat for anyone who already has received a full tuition scholarship: “Students with a full-tuition scholarship or benefit are only eligible to participate in the early class registration drawing.” Mount Union merit scholarships are listed here.

Home page design note…

The Mount Union home page as I write this uses 3 different openings. If you don’t see “Early Deposit Awards Program” as the page opens refresh the page until you do.

How common are early deposit incentives?

How many colleges are offering incentives for early deposits? We’ve no idea at this point. Visiting the home pages of every (we think) private college or university in Ohio yielded only the University of Mount Union. Googling about did bring us to “preferred admission incentives” for early deposit at Colorado Christian University. These were not, however, introduced on the home page. Random visits to private sector schools in Iowa,  New York, and Pennsylvania didn’t turn up any.

Likely there are at least a few others out and about the country side. Comment below with a link if you know of any others.

Follow the Link of the Week

Check how one university seeks to boost early deposits with special incentives, starting at the University of Mount Union home page.

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Get in touch with an email to bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com or, if we follow one another on Twitter, a DM on that site.

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