Rising fees and a cost of living crisis: How can we convince them it’s worth it?

With the cost of living crisis already putting pressure on students, the rise in fees announced by the new Labour government has sent shockwaves through schools and sixth form colleges. Future students are weighing up the ultimate question: will they be able to afford to go to university – and will the cost be worth it?  

The website The Student Room is polling its users and undertaking a social listening project to understand more about how prospective students feel about the fee rise. Threads monitored by the site indicate that students both understand the need for higher fees and admit it may affect their decision of what, where and when to study.

One thing is certain: in this climate they will want to know exactly what they’re getting for their money, and if they will be able to cope financially while they’re studying. “We’re looking at a really discerning customer,” warns Jack Smith, Assistant Head of Strategic Marketing at Loughborough University. “A degree is a significant investment. Most students want to know the rate of return.”

Some universities are debating whether, in this climate, they can implement a rise in student fees at all. But it also raises another big financial question: when times are tight, are universities spending their marketing budgets in ways that really pay off – and keep wavering students motivated and ready to apply? 

Our university partners tell us that the cost of living is having a big impact on future recruitment drives. That’s not just who they focus their efforts on, but what tools they use to reach them. Traditional marketing content plans don’t always answer the toughest questions to ask about university: what will my life there actually look like? That’s where new tools, like Vepple’s immersive campus experience, quickly repay their investment.

Jonny Harper, our Chief Technology Officer, says this kind of honest real-life immersive content is now a key recruitment tool. “Often university marketing is about how we experienced university years ago, but that’s not the reality of what it’s like for most people now. A day-in-the-life should be where you go for your job, all the places that are cheap to eat, and accepting the reality that people are skint. There’s an anxiety there, and we can engage with that and the reality of how you manage it.”

As attending university becomes an ever-more costly decision to take – a “serious buying decision”, as our Chief Executive Officer Tom Greveson calls it – then institutions need to help their applicants get over that anxiety by connecting with them emotionally too. According to a report by The Ambassador Platform, four in five students say they want to feel like they “belong” at a university before they apply. That sense of understanding a campus and feeling part of it – being able to picture a life they want and can achieve – helps reduce their understandable feelings of anxiety about this big step.

That’s why a marketing approach that unravels the experience of university life can prove particularly influential. “There’s too much of a danger for universities to be drawn into thinking this is only a hard-nosed decision and operating in the expected way that you would do for a commercial decision,” Tom warns. “A softer approach over time is needed.”

According to Ros Kershaw, CRM, Content and Rich Media Manager at the University of Bradford, “the cost of living has been at the top of our consciousness”.

Bradford has a high widening participation intake and a higher than average percentage of mature students, so the financial implications of choosing to spend time studying rather than earning are a particularly important consideration for prospective students. The university makes sure it addresses this in all its marketing materials.

“We make sure we’re talking about things like affordability. We’re lucky because Bradford is one of the cheapest places to live,” Ros says. “We’ve created new content like student blogs to talk about the cost of living, and how to do things cheaper. We’ve done things like where you can eat out cheaply in Bradford and how to cook meals for only a few quid.”

As an institution with an older intake, and many students undertaking work-based courses such as midwifery and paramedic science, students also need to know more about the practicalities of life on campus. Whether car parking is available and how much it costs is far more important to this demographic than the price of a pint in the union bar.

It’s not just the prospective student who needs to feel that connection too. It’s also the parents. For some institutions, these are as important an audience using Vepple’s online campus tours as the students themselves, as the families of young students familiarise themselves with the world they will be financially supporting their children to enter. Accessed by parents and guardians, these tools are reaching future candidates at younger and younger ages – and with great results. Our CEO Tom says: “if marketing teams have done their work, the final step is the easiest – “like embracing old friends, rather than it feeling like a huge financial decision”. 
“As they’re getting to the very end of that [application] process but then you want them to say, ‘Of course I’m going to University X’, as it’s a relationship,” he says.

Explore More with Vepple

Ready to dive deeper and see how Vepple can transform your digital presence? Contact us today to schedule a discussion with one of our Customer Success Managers and start your journey towards enhanced digital engagement and impressive ROI.