Hobsons Puts College Students Front and Center: Unveils Radius, the First Student Lifecycle Management Solution

CINCINNATI, April 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- At first glance, the present higher education landscape denotes an institution-focused model challenged by declining enrollment, increased competition, reduced funding, and bleak completion rates; Complete College America reports that only thirty-six percent of all students graduate within four years from flagship colleges and universities. Meanwhile, students and their families struggle financially to determine just how they can afford college and, if so, whether pursuing a degree will produce a future return that will make the investment a wise one. There is a disconnect within higher education when students are not central to an institution's strategy and mission, but it doesn't have to be this way. Hobsons today announced the launch of Radius, the first Student Lifecycle Management (SLM) solution to proactively engage students during recruitment, enrollment, and through to graduation, thus allowing institutions to place students at the center of their business.

"Successful Student Lifecycle Management is simple," said Hobsons CEO Craig Heldman. "When schools are able to provide value to students at each stage of the lifecycle, they increase quality, efficiency, growth, and intelligence at their institution. We are excited to offer Radius as the first, single solution to maximize student success and institutional effectiveness seamlessly across multiple student pathways and multiple aspects of the institution."

With Student Lifecycle Management, institutions can provide value to students by establishing, building, tracking, and managing relationships throughout the entire student lifecycle. The first SLM solution of its kind, Radius, offers institutions the flexibility to define and personalize a student's lifecycle path from inquiry to enrollment:

• Pre-prospect – manage day-to-day contact with constituents and create dynamic behavioral marketing campaigns.
• Applicant – build multi-page application forms, increase efficiency, and reduce application abandonment with online self-service tools.

Registrars and other academic administrators can keep students on the path to graduation with Radius' advanced reporting features and definitive lifecycle paths that are customizable per academic program. By emphasizing the importance of delivering an enriched student experience and improving student retention, Radius allows institutions to monitor and track student performance, intervene when students need additional support, and analyze student outcomes from a single, cloud-based interface:

• Current student – track student performance via course and alert management features and advisor capabilities.
• Graduate – gain business intelligence around student outcomes with flexible data integration and customizable dashboards.

Prior to Radius, Spartanburg Methodist College in South Carolina used an assortment of systems to manage its recruitment efforts that, although powerful, carried a learning curve that limited staff adeptness. Since implementing Radius earlier this year, SMC has revolutionized the way in which it interacts with students from the point of inquiry to enrollment. Now, counselors and enrollment managers can quickly segment applicant pools, personalize student communications, process applications online, and prepare students for registration without extensive staff training. Online processing has helped SMC increase productivity. After six weeks of implementation, they are more than one month ahead of student deposits over 2013.

"Radius' emphasis on Student Lifecycle Management mirrors SMC's history of personal relationships with students during the recruitment process," said Mike Queen, SMC director of Admissions. "Radius has allowed us to deepen those relationships and provide truly unique experiences for our prospective students. The intuitiveness of the program has allowed us to launch with minimal staff training and produced immediate results." 

Based on Hobsons' Intelliworks architecture, Radius is available to undergraduate, graduate, and non-traditional programs.

What does successful Student Lifecycle Management look like? Download Hobsons' free Student Lifecycle Management white paper.

Learn how Radius can help your institution put students first by joining Hobsons' exclusive Google Hangout on April 30 at 1:30 p.m. E.S.T. with Tiffin University's Director of Enrollment Operations, Justin Schlenker.

About Hobsons

Hobsons helps educators, administrators, students, and families maximize success through every stage of the learning lifecycle. Hobsons' personalized learning, academic planning, post-secondary enrollment, and student support solutions serve millions of students across more than 7,500 schools, colleges, and universities worldwide.

SOURCE Hobsons