Bridging the Gap Between Higher Ed & High Schools in Disadvantaged Areas

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.919 --> 00:00:07.240 You are listening to the Higher Ed Marketer, a podcast geared towards marketing professionals 2 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:11.960 in higher education. This show will tackle all sorts of questions related to student 3 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:16.800 recruitment, don'tor relations, marketing trends, new technologies and so much more. 4 00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:21.000 If you are looking for conversation centered around where the industry is going, this 5 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:30.000 podcast is for you. Let's get into the show. Welcome to the High 6 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:34.840 Ed Marketer podcast. I'm troy singer and I'm here with my cohost and Newest 7 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:40.039 Bangles Fan club member, Bart Taylor, and today we're going to interview s 8 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:44.759 joy Roy. He is the CEO of visit days, and the topic that 9 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:49.640 he's going to bring to us as making communication accessible to more potential students, 10 00:00:49.640 --> 00:00:52.799 and I think this is something that he does a very good job of, 11 00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:58.000 both laying out the problem but then also some of the solutions that are out 12 00:00:58.039 --> 00:01:02.119 there to address the problem. I love this conversation. Yeah, it's really 13 00:01:02.119 --> 00:01:03.640 good. I think sometimes we talk about, and I would call back to 14 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:08.359 the conversation that we had with with nate at the Gates Foundation, just about 15 00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:14.200 accessibility for students. It's such a such an important topic and higher education and 16 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:17.239 I think sometimes as marketers we get we get kind of focused in on, 17 00:01:17.319 --> 00:01:21.120 you know, the tyranny of the urgent and we're really trying to get you 18 00:01:21.159 --> 00:01:23.680 know, get get the messaging out and stuff. I think sometimes being able 19 00:01:23.719 --> 00:01:29.000 to step back and say, are we really is higher education really accessible to 20 00:01:29.239 --> 00:01:33.359 the vast majority of students in the United States who could best benefit from it? 21 00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:36.920 And I really like the conversation that's joy leads us through with the idea 22 00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:42.120 of talking about that. You know sometimes it might not be, and that 23 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:46.159 that's actually challenged him to kind of create a platform that improves that for for 24 00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:49.959 students and ultimately then also helps us as highed marketers to be able to recruit 25 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:53.879 some of those students that might not have been in our in our awareness, 26 00:01:53.879 --> 00:01:57.879 and I think that with some of the challenges moving forward, and and see 27 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:00.719 joy does a good job of articulating this, I think looking for these creative 28 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:06.840 platforms is going to be important. Thank you, Bart here's our conversation with 29 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:12.639 joy Roy. It's my pleasure to welcome to joy Roy, who's the CEO 30 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:16.120 of visit days, to the High Ed Marketer podcast. Thank you for being 31 00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:20.479 willing to be our guest to days to joy. Thank you for having me, 32 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:23.599 Troy. I really appreciate it. You have agreed to come on and 33 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:29.199 talk about the topic of making communication accessible to more potential students, but before 34 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:32.479 we go into it, if you could just give us a brief background and 35 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:38.919 then a both about yourself but then also visit days, absolutely well. So, 36 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:42.599 my name is Hugh Joy Roy. I'm the founder of visit days. 37 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:46.919 I started the the company visit days approximately a little bit over eight years ago 38 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:51.560 and it's been one of the wildest and most amazing journeys I've ever been on. 39 00:02:51.639 --> 00:02:55.400 This is an entrepreneur. I have sort of benefited from this incredible American 40 00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:00.879 education. As an immigrant, I have benefited from them the opportunities in this 41 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:07.039 country, and my big introduction into Higher Ed was through my parents, who 42 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:13.120 are both professors at institutions in the US, and I started seeing a gap 43 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:19.560 when it came to college access and being a benefactor of getting an amazing education 44 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:23.919 here, I wanted to build a solution that would help millions of students around 45 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:27.759 the world and around the country access education the way I did, and so 46 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:30.879 I started my journey eight years ago and we're running still strong today. So 47 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:37.360 if you can tell us how visit day's works and how the approach of how 48 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:42.680 you approach the problem of limited access to higher education? Yeah, absolutely so. 49 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:45.439 The way we sort of approach it is we sort of think about, 50 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:49.039 well, who does, who has a lot of access to higher education? 51 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:52.479 And when you sort of look into the lens of those that are going to 52 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:58.879 really elite private schools or part of extremely good, well funded districts and public 53 00:03:58.919 --> 00:04:03.319 school education in the US, what you'll notice is that most of the administrators 54 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:10.199 in the high schools have direct lines of communications directly to the college administrators around 55 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:15.560 the country at top schools. That specific access is what what I define as 56 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:19.279 college access, which really means that if you're going to a high school the 57 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:25.319 can your counselor quickly make a phone call and call some of the best universities 58 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:29.519 in a flash and have them on their high school within within minutes or within 59 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:33.360 days? And if the answer to that question is either I don't know or 60 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:39.879 know, you're most likely not getting the type of access other students have, 61 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:43.399 and that's how I would categorize it. I would say that if your high 62 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:46.720 school counselor can meet can make that happen for you, you have an incredible 63 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:49.920 amount of access and if you don't, that sorts of visit a steps in. 64 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:54.360 That's great and I think that I really liked that. You know, 65 00:04:54.399 --> 00:04:58.240 what you talked about is that there's kind of that that idea that there's I 66 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:00.519 hate to use the word Elitism, but there's the idea of being able to 67 00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:04.079 you know, if you're in the right place at the right time, in 68 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:10.279 the right you know prep school or right private school, things are opened up 69 00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:12.600 a little bit more for you and I like the fact that there's a little 70 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:15.360 bit of a equal as or, you know, equality on visit days. 71 00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:18.480 You know, you're making a little bit more accessible for everybody. So I 72 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:21.199 think that's really good. Tell us a little bit about how some of this 73 00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:25.279 really plays out, just, you know, in ways that we might not 74 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:27.879 be aware of. I mean, you know, I think there's certain you 75 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:31.439 know, probably socio economic plays into it, gender probably plays into it. 76 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:33.839 To tell us little bit about that. Yeah, so I think there's probably 77 00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:38.759 two to three major themes. I think we should all in higher red take 78 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:42.959 a focus and look at we're noticing that fear and fear students are going to 79 00:05:43.000 --> 00:05:46.839 college. That was a big sort of big news cycle, if you will, 80 00:05:46.839 --> 00:05:50.199 getting into two thousand and twenty two beginning of January. Secondary would noticing 81 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:55.480 that, with test optional, there's a lot of discussion on how students are 82 00:05:55.560 --> 00:05:59.680 going to become seen by most of the colleges in the country, because most 83 00:05:59.720 --> 00:06:03.680 call is depend on the sets and college board to purchase names so they can 84 00:06:03.720 --> 00:06:08.040 market to most of the students in the country. So those are the two, 85 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:11.000 I think, Major, major shifts that are happening. There's a decline 86 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:14.879 in interest in going to college and then there's a decline, there's a there's 87 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:18.720 a now there's got to be a new way to find and meet students across 88 00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:21.560 the country. And in the third I would say in more associated to the 89 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:27.959 first, which is the decline is unproportionately happening towards males in the US. 90 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:30.920 So that's a big area of concern when you think about what that could possibly 91 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:34.399 mean in, you know, five ten years down the line, from just 92 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:40.800 a from a from a socio economic levels where you know many, many men 93 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:46.879 and adults going into college are just choosing not to not not to pursue higher 94 00:06:46.920 --> 00:06:49.319 education. And so I think those are the three themes that we sort of 95 00:06:49.319 --> 00:06:53.920 take a look at and we noticed that, by and large, it's getting 96 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:57.519 hit in the in the worst districts in the country. It's getting hit in 97 00:06:57.560 --> 00:07:00.959 the areas that probably needed the least. Right like right, this is the 98 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:05.079 time for them to use education to pull out of poverty, to increase their 99 00:07:05.160 --> 00:07:11.319 overall so socioeconomic standards. And so those are the those are the, I 100 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:15.680 think, macro level themes that we're seeing across the board and what we are 101 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:19.680 hoping for, at least what we're trying to identify is one of the root 102 00:07:19.720 --> 00:07:26.639 causes of the decline and interest in going to higher education and going to college 103 00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:30.680 is the lack of awareness and the lack or the feeling that it's really out 104 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:34.920 of reach. And I think we don't recognize if you're living in a great 105 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:40.079 neighborhood or you have a great high school, whether it's public school or private 106 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:44.199 school, going to be some of the most elite schools in the country doesn't 107 00:07:44.279 --> 00:07:47.959 seem very frightening, it doesn't seem out of reach and you're very well aware 108 00:07:48.120 --> 00:07:53.279 that it's a very clear possibility for you and your future. But for most 109 00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:58.600 people and most children in America it's just not even something that they're aware of, 110 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:01.079 like the fact that they could have a meeting with the you know, 111 00:08:01.399 --> 00:08:07.560 the counselor at Harvard or at Princeton. That just doesn't appear as a as 112 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:13.000 a possibility to see. It seems so out of reach, and what we're 113 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:18.079 hoping for it visit days is to bring that type of access directly to the 114 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:22.519 decision makers at these institutions, to really everybody, right, and we think 115 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:26.519 that if you can do that and if you can make admissions less about the 116 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:31.399 rejection rate per college but more about the access and the opportunities that one can 117 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:37.840 pursue, I think it would inspire more and more students, really starting early 118 00:08:37.879 --> 00:08:41.799 as eighth grade, to see this as a real option right and see this 119 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:46.279 as very attainable and very approachable. And on the college side, we want 120 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:50.240 to give universities a way to meet students outside of just potentially purchasing names or 121 00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:54.559 doing the other types of marketing activities that they're doing. We want them to 122 00:08:54.600 --> 00:08:58.639 have authentic meetings, authentic ability to get in front of a group of students 123 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:03.080 that they not have even considered. See. One of the interesting things about 124 00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:07.799 the test optional piece is that historically, the fact that the set's existed and 125 00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:13.879 that their average scores at all of those things are so highly publicized. It 126 00:09:13.960 --> 00:09:18.919 actually prevented a lot of students to even think about applying right they didn't even 127 00:09:18.919 --> 00:09:20.879 think about it. It just seemed so out of reach or just didn't seem 128 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:26.200 like even an option. But I think with the decline of of I should 129 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:33.120 say the the rise of test optionality across the top institutions around the country, 130 00:09:33.399 --> 00:09:35.559 there's going to be a whole new crop of applicants that are going to come 131 00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:41.559 out to specific institutions that never saw them before, and what we're hoping with 132 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:46.759 us, with our initiatives in our programs, is to make that meeting far 133 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:52.559 more accessible and far more approachable for both parties. So you've accurately described the 134 00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:58.120 problem and I love the solutions that you're trying to get to. If you 135 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:03.960 could help us understand how visit days actually bridges that gap? Sure. So 136 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:07.559 what we do is we have approximately one thousand eight hundred universities that have a 137 00:10:07.559 --> 00:10:13.679 profile and visit days. That means that they are able to get their counselors 138 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:18.919 to connect their calendars onto our platform. Almost think of us like a booking 139 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:22.279 platform. Like you would with with the health characters, with ZOC DOC, 140 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:26.480 or with restaurants with open table where you can go onlining, you can book 141 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:31.919 a reservation right away. Similarly, we're trying to make all the individuals that 142 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:35.879 are the administrators in the college, College Reps and college administrators at the universities 143 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:41.600 around the country accessible. So our platform has around seventeen to eight united universities 144 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:46.600 that can make their counselors accessible. They can do presentations, they can do 145 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:52.559 programming, videos, content that explains everything that prospective student may need to know 146 00:10:52.600 --> 00:10:56.679 about the institution, but also the process in which they can apply, in 147 00:10:56.720 --> 00:11:00.159 the process in which they will be measured or the factors in which they will 148 00:11:00.200 --> 00:11:03.799 be measured. So everything can be very, very public. And what we 149 00:11:03.879 --> 00:11:09.639 do is we take those seventeen to eight united university profiles and the institutions programming 150 00:11:09.679 --> 00:11:13.639 and we take them to districts. We provide our software completely free to universe 151 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:18.399 up to the districts itself. High schools, if you're a public and private 152 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:22.440 high school in the country, visits is completely free for you. And the 153 00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:26.679 way we monetize is that universities that are participating in specific districts and they want 154 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:31.639 their profiles to be available to those students and their availabilities and all the content. 155 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:35.879 Pay US a very small subscription fee per year to get access to those 156 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:41.840 individual districts. Visit days is not sell leads. We don't have an advertising 157 00:11:41.840 --> 00:11:46.440 play where purely based on a BDB business model with the universities that get access 158 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:50.360 to the districts that we partner with. I love that. I love that 159 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:54.759 model because I think it's students first and providing a service to the students first. 160 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:58.559 You know, we've talked to several other folks on the High Ed Marketer 161 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:03.639 podcast asked to know one that that that we talked about earlier before we recorded. 162 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:07.120 You know, campus tour, campus visit. They you know with with 163 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:11.440 Alex Boylan. We've also talked with, you know, Zeemi. Similar in 164 00:12:11.480 --> 00:12:16.000 the sense of really having that place where students can come and find their information, 165 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:20.480 find the answers to their questions, and I love the fact that you 166 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:24.600 are really focusing in on those school districts that might not always be, you 167 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:30.519 know, where the students might they might not have the accessibility that should be 168 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:33.480 there. The school districts getting this for free. It gives that ability to 169 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:37.159 everybody in the school district, all the students and parents and things like that, 170 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:41.159 and then monetizing that through the through the small fee with the colleges. 171 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:43.960 I think is really a really good way to go. Are you finding a 172 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:48.840 lot of schools that are finding benefits in that? I mean certainly, like 173 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:52.480 you said earlier, there's a lot more students that are going to be applying 174 00:12:52.600 --> 00:12:56.240 and interested in some of these schools that maybe historically they didn't think that they 175 00:12:56.279 --> 00:13:01.720 could reach, but now that they've got this this accessibility, this relationship that 176 00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:03.559 they can build on this platform that. How does that change things? I 177 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:09.559 think that universities are starting to you have to keep in mind, you know, 178 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:13.679 universities have been doing recruitment for the last maybe fifty to sixteen years the 179 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:18.080 same exact way right. So this is it. We're in a TI tonic 180 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:22.320 shift in the way administrators and college administrators are looking at it. I mean, 181 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:24.679 I was just on a call maybe a few days ago where the VP 182 00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:28.960 of enrollment at a university that I work that visit these works with said, 183 00:13:30.039 --> 00:13:31.600 you know, they've had to make pivots before, but this has been like 184 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:35.559 they've never had to make fast this level of a pivot in their in their 185 00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:41.399 business model and their approach in their entire careers, which have spanned maybe two 186 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:45.639 to three decades. So I think we're still in the beginning of a major 187 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:50.120 shift in the way universities are going to operate in the future. Having said 188 00:13:50.159 --> 00:13:52.000 that, I think that most universities, especially, I would say, the 189 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:58.440 top schools, are really embracing the fact that they need to they need to 190 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:03.120 reach out to the community to find the right students for their class and they 191 00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:07.120 need to make the effort to make sure that this the areas that in which 192 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:11.240 they did not have a huge representation or they don't have a relationship with the 193 00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:15.879 high school counselor that's making a phone call and asking them to come to a 194 00:14:15.960 --> 00:14:18.240 high school visit. You know, those are the areas that now they have 195 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:22.399 the ability, through visit days, through a virtual platform, to be available 196 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:26.000 and to be accessible in a way that they didn't have to before, and 197 00:14:26.039 --> 00:14:30.759 it's relatively easy for them. So we're trying to make sure that a college 198 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:33.159 is not overburdened because they're also, you know, they are also dealing with 199 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:37.679 their own staffing issues, they're also dealing with their own series of sort of 200 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:41.120 administrative things that they're trying to adapt to, and so we're trying to make 201 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:45.440 sure that our platform scales well for them so they can be in more places 202 00:14:45.480 --> 00:14:48.679 in much shorter period of time and much lower costs, but at the same 203 00:14:48.679 --> 00:14:52.240 time we're trying to make sure that they're finding the types of students that are 204 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:56.000 really going to be the future leaders of tomorrow. I'll give you a good 205 00:14:56.039 --> 00:14:58.480 example. We also partner like like we do with the school districts, we 206 00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:03.639 also partner with CBOS, and one CBO we recently partnered with was Philadelphia Futures. 207 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:07.600 And so Philadelphia Futures, if you're not aware of them, they're an 208 00:15:07.639 --> 00:15:13.519 incredible organization. Obviously in Philadelphia they have approximately there. They're consortium of multiple 209 00:15:13.600 --> 00:15:18.159 high schools in that in the city of Philadelphia, and they are a program 210 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:22.799 that basically has a hundred percent student graduation from high school. I think a 211 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:26.399 ninety nine percent reticulation from college. Like these are some of the brightest students 212 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:31.440 in the city of Philadelphia and generally not in great circumstances right and so we 213 00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:37.639 allow our platform to be completely free for all CBO so Philadelphia futures signed up 214 00:15:37.639 --> 00:15:41.720 with visit days and they had an incredible showing of and then close to a 215 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:46.840 hundred universities participating. Close to four hundred students joined and now are a part 216 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:48.799 of the platform. One of the things that makes our platform different is that 217 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:52.960 where year around, so you don't have to be on a specific day or 218 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:56.120 a specific hour to show up, and so for us, the home model 219 00:15:56.240 --> 00:16:00.639 is this is a platform that exists year around. The universities can publish live 220 00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:04.840 sessions whenever they want, they can make themselves available throughout the year and so 221 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:10.679 students can find them through a trusted source like the CBO or like their district 222 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:15.480 in high school and be able to use and use the platform whenever they want. 223 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:18.559 It's not something that forces them to have to be on a specific day 224 00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:23.240 specifically there. They can just use it whenever to get access. That's great. 225 00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:26.639 That's great. High and you kind of touched a little bit on the 226 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:30.279 idea of the future and I think that, yeah, we often have guests 227 00:16:30.279 --> 00:16:33.120 come on and talk about, okay, you know the future. You Know 228 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:37.320 Two thousand and twenty five with the enrollment cliff. I think a lot of 229 00:16:37.320 --> 00:16:41.399 people talk about that, talk about generation Alpha, what's coming there just and 230 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:44.120 also just the idea of, like you said, you know, the news 231 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:48.399 feed of the beginning of January as this idea that is there still value and 232 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:51.120 higher education. What do you say to that? I mean, what? 233 00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:53.639 What? What? What's your thoughts about where the future of higher at its 234 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:56.399 going? So, I mean, I'll be honest, as a person, 235 00:16:56.840 --> 00:17:00.240 from a personal standpoint, I am a son of immigrants, I am an 236 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:07.119 immigrant myself and you know, I've come being in the United States getting American 237 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:11.880 High School Education and college education. It's it's the greatest gift America has to 238 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:15.400 give to its future. It just is. I mean, do I think 239 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:18.680 that the cost of education is out of control and that needs to be reigned 240 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:26.200 in? Absolutely, but this sentiment that education or higher education is not valuable 241 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:30.359 or potentially can be foregone is going to be at the worst detriment for us 242 00:17:30.359 --> 00:17:33.920 and US as individuals and as a country. I mean that is our I 243 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:38.680 think that is the biggest competitive advantage we have and if we look at how 244 00:17:38.759 --> 00:17:44.759 much the rest of the world is ramping up their education focus, ramping up 245 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:49.319 the focus of higher education, I think the the sentiment and that which I 246 00:17:49.319 --> 00:17:53.759 think is proliferated at least more so in the last five six years, which 247 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:59.920 higher education does not matter or is not as important as it used to be, 248 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:03.160 is very dangerous. Do I think you can get other forms of education 249 00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:07.440 and doesn't have to be a typical for your degree? Absolutely. Can you 250 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:11.440 do apprenticeships? Can you do trade schools? Absolutely. I don't think there 251 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:15.519 has to be a one size fits all for all populations, but we as 252 00:18:15.559 --> 00:18:21.519 a country have to get our next generation into a form of higher education, 253 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:25.319 thinking and knowing that that is valuable, because that's what's going to make us 254 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:29.279 as a country stronger and more competitive. That's great. That's great. As 255 00:18:29.279 --> 00:18:33.640 we wind up to show, are there any other aspects of visit days that 256 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:38.160 we haven't talked about that you would want to mention before we close? Yeah, 257 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:41.200 I think the last thing I would I would sort of leave everyone with, 258 00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:48.119 is called like we're right now working on an incredible effort throughout the state 259 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:52.480 of Texas. We are working with e SC, the Educational Sir Service enters, 260 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:55.799 which is which are all the consoortial, all the groupings of all the 261 00:18:55.839 --> 00:19:00.000 districts in EESC, ten eleven, and we're expecting most of Texas to be 262 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:04.160 running on visit day soon, and in that effort I have sort of seen 263 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:08.640 how much it takes of all the high school counselors and the college administrators to 264 00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:12.640 come together to make this work, and what I would leave off with is 265 00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:18.200 that this effort is going to really help the next generation. I think that 266 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:22.960 if we can solve and if we can address this gap in equity and help 267 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:26.519 every student in the country and parent in the country feel like they are welcomed 268 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:30.480 into higher education, that it is not too far away, that the it 269 00:19:30.599 --> 00:19:34.559 is in their grasp, and we do it early enough in the in their 270 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:40.240 journey through high school and potentially Middle School, we're going to see a future 271 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:42.839 that is brighter and stronger than ever before, and visit he's is going to 272 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:47.480 do everything it can and its power to make that happen. I'm inspired. 273 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:51.279 Thank you very much. See Joy. What would be the best way to 274 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:55.119 reach you if one of our listeners would like to connect, so you can 275 00:19:55.119 --> 00:20:00.400 email me directly. It's to joy. It's Su joy at visit thesecom. 276 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:02.920 That's the easiest way. You can find me on Linkedin or you can go 277 00:20:02.960 --> 00:20:06.640 to our website and schedule a call right on our website. So joy again. 278 00:20:06.680 --> 00:20:10.200 Thank you for being such a wonderful guest and letting the world know about 279 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:12.519 visit days. Thank you for having me, Joy Bart. Do you have 280 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:17.079 any closing thoughts that you would like to share? Yeah, I thought that 281 00:20:17.319 --> 00:20:21.079 sue joy did a great job articulating some of the challenges that are in higher 282 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:23.440 education right now, as well as what is coming down the pike. I 283 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:29.359 think everybody understands that, you know, it's not getting easier to be a 284 00:20:29.400 --> 00:20:33.599 higher ed marketer or a higher administrator. There's challenges involved in recruiting students and 285 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:38.880 with pools shrinking and with, you know, just the the attitude toward higher 286 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:45.200 education slipping and changing in some ways. I really like the fact that there's 287 00:20:45.240 --> 00:20:49.759 a lot of a lot of thought and intentionality going into people like sue joy 288 00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:53.240 and visit days and another ones that we've talked to. I've really trying to 289 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:56.279 address this problem and staying out in front of it and I think that, 290 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:00.000 even even if we take away, you know, a lot of the culture 291 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:03.720 real issues, even things like text test optional and some things that have come 292 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:07.240 out of the pandemic that are just changing the nature of the way that students 293 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:14.720 are accessing and having accessibility to higher education. I like platforms like visit days 294 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:18.480 and how they can bridge that gap and they can, you know, provide 295 00:21:18.519 --> 00:21:22.039 resources for those students to be able to get more information, to be able 296 00:21:22.079 --> 00:21:26.319 to, you know, get into those places and start those conversations in those 297 00:21:26.359 --> 00:21:30.119 relationships. It's it strikes me, Troy, is that we've had so many 298 00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:36.480 conversations on the hired marketer podcast about the importance of relationships, whether it's relationships 299 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:41.920 internally with internal teams, marketing teams with enrollment, marketing teams with development, 300 00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:45.440 or even if it's just, you know, admissions counselors with with prospects and 301 00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:48.880 families, relationships or where it comes down to. And I love the fact 302 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:52.680 that visit days starts to facilitate those relationships in a way that might not be 303 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:56.839 possible for some of these students. So really appreciate you being on the show 304 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:57.920 days. He Joy. It's been a pleasure, or right, it's been 305 00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:00.799 my leisure to thank you, barn in Troy. That brings us to the 306 00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:07.279 end of the episode. The hired marketer podcast is sponsored by Calo solutions and 307 00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:12.599 education marketing and branding agency and by Think, patented, a marketing execution company 308 00:22:12.680 --> 00:22:21.079 combining personal reason and customization for higher ed outreach solutions. On behalf of my 309 00:22:21.160 --> 00:22:26.440 cohost barred Kaylor. My name is troy singer. Thanks again for joining us. 310 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:32.279 You've been listening to the higher edeter. To ensure that you never miss 311 00:22:32.279 --> 00:22:36.920 an episode, subscribe to the show in your favorite podcast player. If you're 312 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:40.480 listening with apple PODCASTS, we'd love for you to leave a quick rating of 313 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:44.960 the show. Simply tap the number of stars you think the podcast deserves. 314 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:45.880 Until next time,