Page 2 - 2019 Higher Education Benchmarks

Welcome to

the Fifth Annual

Higher Education Benchmarks

In the course of developing our 2019 Higher Education Benchmarks report, we have had the opportunity
to reflect upon all of the changes, education dynamics and media environment that shaped 2018. Through
it all there were a couple of major trends that stood out and really defined the year. The connection
between education and employment was really driven home and the strength of the US economy certainly
had a major impact on education institutions. The value of a degree is fully under attack both in terms of
cost but more so its importance given the hiring desperation of employers. This continues to drive new
innovation in competency-based education, alternative tuition models and closer alignment generally
between employers and education institutions.

This year also marks an inflection point where mobile marketing has gone from a growth area to a
dominant channel of marketing. Whether it is targeted ads in search, social media advertising or using SMS
messaging rather than phone calls, if you aren’t focusing on communication with prospective students
directly on their phone you are missing the mark.

In terms of continuing trends, the for-profit industry continues to struggle with large Year-over-Year
declines in enrollments with the not-for-profit market generally trending flat in enrollments. Degree areas
matter and show substantial differences in enrollment trends resulting in increased investment in program
viability research and job market analytics research. And finally, the digital marketing environment is
becoming more complex as social media giants compete with Google search for advertising dollars and
user engagement.

The net effect of all of this is a continued push for marketers to become more sophisticated, diverse in
their channel strategy, and clearly define the value prop of their education institution. We consistently
hear from marketing and enrollment leadership that this report is their favorite resource every year and we
hope you will be able to pull a few insights from this to help improve your marketing program in 2019 and
beyond.

Mike McHugh
CEO
Thruline Marketing
[email protected]

2 January 2019