This Admissions Officer Changed Her Recruiting Strategy in the Trump Era. It Worked.

Myanmar, Malaysia. Colombia, Guatemala, Brazil. Jordan. Taiwan.

Morgan Volkart’s work as associate vice provost for international recruitment at Lehigh University has taken her around the world, and then some.

Volkart is in her sixth year heading up international admissions at this Pennsylvania university, which is also her alma mater. But for her, and for her counterparts at colleges across the United States, this past year has been like no other. It is the first full recruiting season since the presidential election, since the travel ban, of the America First era.

Hanging over recruiters’ work was a simple but existential question: Would international students still come?

“Going into the year,” Volkart says, “my thought was damage control.”

As attendees gather in Lehigh’s backyard this week for the annual conference of Nafsa: Association of International Educators, there will be much comparing of strategies – and of outcomes.

For some institutions, the game plan was to double down on where they already were strong, to commit additional time and resources to shore up key sending countries.

At Lehigh, by contrast, the approach was to think globally. As in, the entire world.

Volkart, who worked in study abroad and taught English in China before coming to international admissions, crisscrossed continents, seeking out new and emerging markets. She cast her net broadly but not haphazardly. Lehigh has attracted students from Singapore and Vietnam, so she extended her travels to nearby Indonesia, Malaysia, and Myanmar.

Latin America became a priority because of the presence of an enthusiastic alumni base. When your institution isn’t a brand name, prominent graduates can lend credibility and, in countries where relationships are especially valued, help underscore that your college offers a welcoming community.

Alumni also provide an constant presence on the ground, a year-round arm of the admissions office.

This fall’s class will include three students from Peru. “That’s three more students than we had before,” Volkart says. While it may just be a handful this year, she sees the long-term potential to build a pipeline of students.

Notably, she found little concern in Peru and neighboring countries about the political climate in the United States. While she was peppered with questions about President Trump in some places, in Latin America students and families didn’t even bring up the president or his politics.

The takeaway, she says, was to tailor her message. If in some countries, students wanted to talk about Trump, in others the focus was jobs and visas. In still others, the primary worries centered on culture and safety.

Unexpected Opportunities

Volkart took advantage of unexpected opportunities. When the university hired Samba Dieng as director of international student services – a position typically focused on visas and students’ on-campus activities – he volunteered to help.

So Volkart sent him on a three-week recruiting trip to a dozen African countries, including his native Senegal, where he was able to share his own experience as an international student. Applications from Africa doubled; one of the top students from Ethiopia will come to Lehigh in the fall.

Volkart acknowledges that the university will probably be unable to take such an extensive trip to Africa each year. Still, she hopes the investment will continue to pay off, through increased familiarity with Lehigh. She plans to maintain relationships her colleague struck up with high-school counselors over email and Skype.

Lehigh may have an advantage in lower-income countries like many of those in Africa because it offers scholarships to foreign students. Unusual among American colleges, it meets 100 percent of the financial need of both domestic and international students. About 15 percent of international students receive some sort of aid.

This year the college awarded more of its scholarship dollars to international students applying early decision, a shift in practice. In fact, as something of an insurance policy, Lehigh accepted a larger share of students via early decision, fully half of incoming international freshmen. Doing so ran the risk of having fewer seats for talented late applicants, but it gave Volkart more certainty about the admissions picture going into this spring’s final enrollment deadlines.

In the end, the university met its goal: About 10 percent of its 1,250-strong freshmen class will come from overseas. And the class is more diverse than ever, hailing from 39 different countries.

Karin Fischer writes about international education, colleges and the economy, and other issues. She’s on Twitter @karinfischer, and her email address is karin.fischer@chronicle.com.