The Parish Pulse is our monthly roundup of higher education trends, enrollment insights, and the industry conversations we’re watching.
Higher education continues to navigate significant change, but many of the challenges institutions face come back to a common question: how do colleges and universities build stronger connections?
The student experience is shaped by every interaction—from a prospective student’s first impression online to the relationships that continue long after enrollment. Every communication, process, and campus experience contributes to students’ understanding of an institution.
We’re seeing colleges and universities rethink what connection means—not just in how they communicate, but in how they use technology, align teams, and create experiences that support students at every stage of their journey.
Here are a few resources and observations that explore those ideas in practice.
Creating Content That Earns Student Attention
Prospective students are forming impressions of colleges and universities long before they ever set foot on campus. Increasingly, those first impressions are forming in digital spaces where institutions compete for attention alongside everything else students encounter online.
Last month, we asked our LinkedIn audience where they believe prospective students form their first impression of an institution. Nearly 60% said social media.
That response reflects a larger shift in how students discover and evaluate colleges. Before visiting a website or attending a campus tour, students are often encountering institutional stories, messages, and values through the content they see in their feeds.
But earning attention requires more than simply posting more often. Effective higher education content needs to provide value, feel authentic, and reflect the questions and experiences students actually care about.
In Tips for Creating Higher Ed Content That Stops the Scroll, we explore practical strategies institutions can use to create content that resonates—from leading with value to telling stories that encourage students to pause and engage.
Technology Works Best When It Supports Better Experiences
New technology features are exciting, but the most valuable tools are the ones that help institutions work more effectively and create better experiences.
Slate Summit introduced dozens of new features this year, and we asked our Slate team which new features they’re most excited to put into practice. Here’s what they said:
- Dave DeBor: Reader Form Communications for faster, more streamlined internal workflow notifications.
- Katie Jordan: Enhanced Subtabs for more flexible record organization and easier management of person- and application-scoped data.
- Malyn Pickett: Express Query Tools that make everyday querying faster with on-the-fly edits to exports, filters, and joins.
- Marcus Webb: Custom Delivery Windows for Queries to streamline external integrations, along with AI Chatbot Conversation History for searchable, reviewable AI interactions.
The common thread? Technology creates the most value when it supports thoughtful strategy.
Our Slate 101 series continues that conversation with a new entry from Katie Jordan on using content blocks to create reusable mailing elements—helping teams simplify communications and get more out of Slate.
The Small Moments That Shape the Student Experience
Communication plans rarely fail because of one major mistake. More often, it’s the small moments—a confusing form, an impersonal email, inconsistent messaging, or unnecessary friction—that gradually shape how students experience an institution.
Drawing on her work reviewing communication plans at institutions across the country, Dr. Leah Beth Hubbard of The Parish Group explores the patterns she most often sees and the practical changes that can make the biggest difference.
Preparing for the Next Generation of Students
As higher education prepares for Generation Alpha, it’s easy to get caught up in assumptions about what the next generation will be like.
But meaningful strategy starts with understanding the research behind the headlines.
We recently sat down with Sophie Renton, Managing Director at McCrindle—the research firm that coined the term “Generation Alpha”—to explore what the data actually tells us about the next generation of students and what colleges should consider as these learners begin their journey toward higher education.
Stronger Connections Require Stronger Alignment
The student experience does not happen in separate departments. Students experience an institution as one continuous relationship.
That’s why conversations around enrollment, retention, and advancement are increasingly connected. When teams operate independently, institutions can miss opportunities to create more consistent and meaningful experiences.
A recent piece from VOLT explores the retention blind spot that can emerge when enrollment and advancement teams operate separately and highlights why stronger alignment, communication, and shared strategy are essential to supporting students throughout their journey.
One More Read
A recent report from The Hechinger Report examines the accelerating pace of college closures, driven by declining enrollment, rising debt, and growing financial pressures.
While no institution wants to imagine itself in that position, the conversation reflects a broader reality: long-term sustainability increasingly depends on an institution’s ability to understand its market, communicate its value, and adapt to changing circumstances.
Strategic enrollment planning, institutional differentiation, and thoughtful decision-making are becoming essential parts of navigating higher education’s future.
Final Thoughts
While the topics above span different areas of higher education, they all point to the same conclusion: connection is becoming one of an institution’s greatest strategic advantages.
Whether through communication, technology, enrollment strategy, or student experience, the institutions that succeed will be those that create thoughtful, connected experiences at every stage of the student journey.
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