REGION Online recruiting expands options for attracting students

Online college fairs have brought more exposure to many colleges.
By SEAN BARRON
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
HIRAM -- A bright brochure and a friendly campus tour used to be among the top tools that college officials employed to recruit students to their campuses.
"Now you need a good-looking Web site," said Mark Thompson, Thiel College's director of admissions.
The information highway has altered the way most businesses operate, and it certainly has changed the way most colleges recruit students.
Ed Frato-Sweeney, admissions director at Hiram College, said technology has put his tiny college in Northeast Ohio on the global map.
"We can talk to students all over the world cheaply, quickly and easily," he said.
Frato-Sweeney said Hiram has participated in many online college fairs in which up to 400 colleges nationwide connect with prospective students through an Internet chat room.
World at the doorstep: The electronic meetings allow students to quickly access a wide variety of schools and talk to admissions counselors and other personnel online. Prospective students and their parents use the Internet and chat sites to ask specific questions of schools the student is considering.
"I think traditional college fairs will be obsolete in five or 10 years," Frato-Sweeney said.
Hiram has participated in five online college fairs sponsored by the National Association for College Admissions and Counseling.
At the most recent online fair, 10 high school students from seven states inquired about Hiram, he said.
This year, half of Hiram's 900 full-time students applied online, meaning they went to Hiram's Web site, filled out an application and sent in the finished form electronically.
About 23 percent of Mount Union College's admissions applications were done online this year, according to Amy Tomko, vice president for enrollment services.
Most of Mount Union's international students applied and inquired electronically, Tomko added. About 3 percent of the Alliance college's 2,334 students are from other countries.
Local connection: Youngstown State University students have to download their online applications, said Sue Davis, interim director of undergraduate and admissions recruitment. Once downloaded, students still have to print them out and send them in or deliver them in person.
Davis said YSU is interviewing several companies for the technology that would allow students to send in completed forms electronically.
Students at Penn State University's Shenango campus in Sharon have found online services invaluable, said Scott Yeager, an admissions counselor.
"The technology enables a regional campus to present its programs and degrees to students anywhere," Yeager said.
Each of Penn State's 24 campuses has its own Web site. Penn State also has a "world campus" that lets students from almost anywhere earn up to a master's degree online.
"They never have to leave the comfort of their own home," Yeager said.
Each of Thiel College's seven regional admissions counselors has a Web site from which to recruit students, Thompson said. Thiel sends registration information to students via e-mail, he added. Electronic communications complements the traditional mail and telephone contacts and follow-up.