Engage families to decrease summer melt
Decisions are out, deposits are in. See you in the Fall, right?
Not quite. Summer melt can undo months of progress between decision and move-in. One of the most effective ways to prevent it? Engage families.
Why would communicating with families make such a difference? For starters, you build trust early on and connect the student and their families to the campus — perhaps before they’ve even set foot on it. In fact, 40% of families would like additional ways to be meaningfully connected and involved with their students’ institutions.
You want to empower families to support their students. “‘Nudging the nudger'’ or ‘supporting the system’ is the reason to communicate with families to help prevent melt.”
That was Nathan Cheesman of New Mexico State University who joined us along with Lisa Simmons of Utah State University to discuss how they communicate with families over the summer and what’s working.
Keep reading for their top tips and best practices. (Rather listen to the webinar? Click here to skip ahead.)
Build on what admissions starts
Admissions gets the ball rolling, but it takes the entire team to enroll a new class. As a former orientation professional, I know it’s the whole campus community that's involved in getting buy-in and ultimately providing support to families and students.” said Simmons.
At Utah State, departments like enrollment, orientation, admissions, and housing meet biweekly, especially to handle challenges like housing shortages.
“There's someone in the admissions office who does a lot of posting to parents in part of the funnel to our prospective parents. Once the student pays the deposit, we consider them confirmed and then they come over to our office,” Simmons shared.
At New Mexico State, the admissions and orientation deposit are the same, which helps keep admissions involved. Cheesman’s team collaborates with offices like housing and international support to track student progress and reach families directly.
“We can share back with the admissions office: these students have started to communicate, they've started to sign up, please help get them signed up for orientation. We can then see with our platform who the family contacts are for those same students and communicate directly to the support systems as well.”
Share information that drives action and builds trust
Families and students are bombarded with info from every direction. To stand out, your messages need to be concise, timely, and purposeful.
Message Type #1: Families want clear, timely info about deadlines, deposits, and financial aid. These messages cut through the noise and drive action.
There are a lot of actions students need to take: setting up student emails, housing deposits and choices, meal plans, registrations, and more. Families are often the ones making sure these get done
Simmons added, “We've obviously been doing a lot about the FAFSA, but anything that we send out about scholarships, financial aid, paying for school, how to set up a payment plan, how to as a delegate of a student get in and help pay the tuition … those are always among our highest clicks.”
Cheesman emphasized the value of clear calls to action: “We want them to take action on that and get in the correct recruitment pool for the future,” he said.
A quick survey via email and SMS helps sort out who’s really coming and who’s not.
For enrolled students, his team makes sure “that the families know about the support that they have in addition to the support that the students have.”
Message Type #2: Supportive (AKA helping families help their students)
Supportive messaging helps families help their students and starts with building trust. In fact, 69% talk to their student often about campus life, 57% about academics, and 53% about mental health.
Simmons said, “We try to humanize the staff, make sure that they know that we're here for them. They contact us with a lot of our questions and start with, ‘I don't know where to start,’ or sometimes it's ‘don't let my student know I'm calling you, but I have a question about this, but I don't want them to think I'm meddling.’ We are not judging. We want to make them comfortable through the whole process.”
Message Type #3: Share the ROI of college. Families want to know: Is this worth it?
With an 18% drop in satisfaction with tuition as a worthwhile investment, families are looking for proof especially around career outcomes.
One of the most powerful ways to build trust is by highlighting the real experiences of current students.
“Having current student engagement really helps them see campus through a student's eyes when we do videos or pictures; what it's really like, what's the hands-on experience that we can show family members or even show prospective students at orientation,” Cheesman said.
At Utah State, student-parent panels at orientation are a hit. “It’s always our top-rated session,” said Simmons. Afterwards, the students have a line of parents wanting to ask them questions.”
“The whole family is a stakeholder in this journey and they want to feel confident in the decision” she added.
Create ways for families to engage all summer
Between May and August, families are excited, anxious, and looking for reassurance. For Utah State and New Mexico State that means thinking beyond the inbox.
At Utah State, families can expect a parent handbook given to them at orientation or mailed to them over the summer. They can also opt-in to SMS notifications through CampusESP, or tune in to the Parent & Family Podcast.
“It's nice to have a lot of little tools to get information to students and families,” Simmons shared.
At New Mexico State, families can join seasonal Ask Me Anything sessions like summer webinars on housing and dining or school-year sessions with academic advising, to get timely answers and support.
They also receive a fridge magnet with FAQs and QR codes linking to key resources. “Now families know exactly where to go to help their student,” said Cheesman.
The bottom line: parent and family engagement impacts melt
Families are more than spectators. They’re advisors, financial stakeholders, and emotional supporters.
“The students see their families as a way of getting information, retaining it, understanding it,” said Cheesman. “And parents need to feel they have real people and resources to rely on.”
If all this feels overwhelming, start small. “I think parents are just happy for any communication, even if it's a monthly or weekly email from you saying, ‘here's what's upcoming, here's what’s what,” said Simmons.
But it’s worth it. “We are on their team. We have similar goals for their student.” Lisa, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves.