Illinois is a big state, and students have so many things going on in their lives. We wanted to provide our same high-quality advising services, but in a way that focused on the individual versus our more traditional school and community-based events and services.
ISAC aims to provide Illinois students with information and assistance to help make higher education accessible and affordable.
One way they meet their mission is through ISACorps, a group of recent college graduates who counsel higher school students and partner with local schools businesses, and nonprofit organizations in order to deliver free career and college planning and preparation services.
Challenges
ISAC staff want to scale up their outreach efforts statewide. Although they were able to reach community members through in-person events, such as college fairs and workshops, they recognized the need to extend their scope beyond that. Students and their families make college planning decisions year-round, and ISAC staff recognized the need to provide support on demand.
Implementation
ISAC texts students, powered by Modern Campus Message, in two ways.
First, they broadcast one message per month to students and families, with information ranging with financial aid tips to general advice about college planning.
Second, ISAC encourages students statewide to view texting as an always-available, always-on resource. Students know they can reach out with questions and connect with a reliable, college planning professional any time, right from their phones.
Results
The students have spoken—or rather, texted—and the feedback is clear: they love being able to reach ISAC through their text. The program’s overall engagement rate is 99.3%, meaning that nearly every student has responded to at least one text message sent by staff.
Further, ISAC has received glowing feedback from staff at high school and community colleges throughout the state of Illinois. Everyone involved appreciates Message's intuitive, user-friendly features, such as the ability to note each student's high school district and college(s) of interest—which makes it easy to personalize each text message.
Discover additional ways you can use text messaging to connect with students and families, extend limited staff resources and set learners up for higher ed success in our free guide:
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About Modern Campus
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