The Application with Allison Turcio

For decades, higher education institutions have relied on the enrollment funnel to manage inquiries, applications, admits, and deposits. But what happens when the very process we spend millions optimizing no longer reflects how students actually choose a college? Host Allison Turcio sits down with Aimee Rose , brand strategist and 2019 AMA Higher Education Marketer of the Year, to challenge the fo...

Indiana State University welcomed its largest freshman class in six years while growing transfer and graduate enrollment by 13%. How? Christian Ponce , Executive Director of University Marketing at Indiana State University , joins us to break down the mindset behind their success: "Marketing doesn't support enrollment. Marketing is enrollment." Christian shares how Indiana State ditched higher-ed...

Students pursue higher education to launch successful careers, yet many institutions hesitate to tie their enrollment strategy directly to post-graduation job outcomes. Allison speaks with Paul McGinnis , VP of Marketing & Enrollment at Bethel University , to discuss the university's bold “Bethel Career Commitment.” Launched in September 2025, this initiative promises qualifying undergraduate...

What if prospective students could know the real sticker price of their school’s tuition before they even applied? In this episode, Allison talks with Jennifer Walker , Vice President for Enrollment Management at Brandeis University , and Alan Mlynek , Chief Product Officer at Noodle , about Faye, an AI-powered tuition agent designed to give prospective students a personalized estimate of their co...

Traditional higher education advertising is losing its cutting edge, and prospective students are tuning out polished, corporate-sounding enrollment pitches. Allison sits down with Cinnamon Dowd , Director of Enrollment Services Marketing & Communications, and Emily Williams , Social Media Specialist at Kennesaw State University , to explain how to tap into the most authentic channel on your c...

Most colleges say they're personalizing the student experience, but what if they're just making their marketing more relevant? Nathan Monk , Co-founder at Prospectus Plus , argues that higher education has confused personalization with relevance. In this episode, he explores why that distinction matters and shares practical ideas for creating recruitment experiences that help prospective students...

Transfer students represent one of the biggest enrollment opportunities in higher education, yet many institutions still treat them as an afterthought. In this episode, Allison sits down with Jaime Smith , author of The Complete Guide to College Transfer , to discuss what transfer students actually need from colleges and universities. Jaime explains why institutions should move beyond being merely...

Artificial intelligence is changing how higher education teams work, but successful AI adoption is about much more than choosing the right tools. In this episode, Allison sits down with Tina Miller ,  Executive Director of Creative and Communications at Arizona State University's Enterprise Technology Division and founder of the AI Beacon Network . Tina shares how her team achieved 100% AI adoptio...

For the 100th episode of The Application, Allison Turcio isn't looking back. She's looking at the assumptions shaping enrollment marketing and asking whether they're still true. After 100 conversations with enrollment leaders, marketers, researchers, financial aid experts, student affairs professionals, and higher education innovators, four themes kept resurfacing. They challenge some of the most...

Enrollment teams are being asked to do more than ever before, but many institutions are still operating with structures designed for a very different era of higher education. In this episode, Allison talks with Jack Corby , VP at Stevens Strategy , to explore what happens when enrollment teams outgrow their organizational structure. From data fluency and systems thinking to project management and...

In this episode, Allison sits down with Webb Lewis , Assistant Director, Marketing & Brand Strategy at the University of Mississippi , for a thoughtful conversation about burnout, creativity, purpose, and remembering your why in higher education marketing. They explore what happens when marketing becomes more transactional than transformational, why authentic storytelling matters more than ever, a...

In this episode, Allison talks with Ashley Miller , Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management at Old Dominion University , about the strategy, resilience, and teamwork behind one of ODU’s most successful admitted student events to date. Ashley shares how her team increased their Admitted Student Day attendance to more than 3,300 students and guests while navigating an incredibly difficult...

Financial aid is often treated like a backend function post-enrollment after the student has already decided. But in reality, it shapes everything. In this episode, host Allison talks with Rachel Gordon , VP of Student Financial Aid Services at American University of Antigua College of Medicine , about what happens when financial aid and marketing stop operating in silos and start working together...

What if affordability isn’t just a financial aid strategy, but a positioning strategy? In this episode, we sit down with Nicole Barron , Senior VP of Enrollment Management at Roosevelt University , to unpack the Roosevelt Pledge, a program guaranteeing free tuition for qualifying students. What started as a tuition reset became a clear, compelling promise that now drives nearly 40% of their applic...

AI isn’t just changing how students search for colleges, but changing how they decide. In this episode, we talk with Jason Smith , Founder of OHO Agency , about how generative AI tools like ChatGPT are becoming a new layer of the enrollment funnel. With more than 75% of students now using AI in their college search, institutions risk being evaluated, compared, and even eliminated before a student...

What if the students already on your campus could shape your most powerful stories? Greg Carter , Director of Strategic Enrollment Marketing and Communications at Virginia Tech , joins Allison to share how they built a student-powered storytelling engine that actually moves the needle. In 2022, his team shifted student content from peer chatter to future-student focus, without handing students a s...

Higher ed marketing teams are competing in one of the noisiest environments we’ve ever seen, and traditional tactics often get lost in a “sea of sameness.” So Fordham University tried something different. At the NACAC conference, the team transformed a pizza shop across the street into a fully branded Fordham pop-up experience. With New York style pizza, music, and Fordham branding everywhere, the...

What happens after a student clicks “Request Information”? For most institutions, that’s where marketing’s job ends. For our guest, that’s where it begins. Devin Purgason , Associate VP of Student Experience at Forsyth Technical Community College , explains how rethinking marketing as service transformed enrollment, strengthened persistence, and improved completion. By merging marketing with stude...

Allison is joined by Laura Rudolph , Founder and CEO of Square One Consulting , and Kristin Nichols, CMO at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts , to unpack the “secret language” of higher education. They argue that clarity is not just a best practice, but an act of equity, leveling the playing field for all audiences. From decoding terms like “matriculate” and “bursar” to realizing “graduate” ca...

In this episode, Allison talks with Day Kibilds , VP of Strategy at Ologie , and Bridget Campolettano , Executive Director of Communications - Arts and Sciences at Dartmouth College , about the bold journey mapping project that transformed how Amherst College thinks about access, communication, and enrollment strategy. Day and Bridget break down how they uncovered four personas that reveal the emo...

Allison is joined by Jenny Petty , VP of Industry Relations and Advisory Services at SimpsonScarborough , and Kerri Shook , Owner of ks strategy studio , to discuss rethinking student recruitment and retention by building a fan base. Inspired by Taylor Swift's “Eras” model, UM saw retention climb by 9% since 2018 by focusing on emotional storytelling and experiential branding. They explain how cro...

In this episode, Allison is joined by Jeff Dillon, Founder and CEO of EdTech Connect , to discuss a major research report on higher ed site search. Jeff reveals shocking data, including that 92% of schools ignore "no result" searches, a treasure trove of first-party data. He explains why your current site search is a high-risk area for enrollment and how the rise of AI is changing user expectation...

Are you still trying to out-volume your enrollment problems? More apps, more emails, more FAFSAs? What if the real solution isn’t more noise, but sharper signals? In this episode, Geoff Baird , Founder and CEO of Enroll ML , joins Allison to pull back the curtain on higher ed’s “Category 5 collision” and explains why the old playbook of chasing volume is broken. You’ll hear how application surges...

What if your university’s marketing felt as irresistible as a Spotify playlist? That’s exactly what Lauran Hundshamer , VP of Enrollment and Marketing at St. Catherine University , is building. Instead of relying on tired “apply now” email blasts, her team is delivering personalized portals, layered communications, and behavior-driven outreach that moves students to act. The payoff is clear: campu...

In this final installment of The Application AMA miniseries, Allison Turcio confronts three unavoidable realities shaping the future of higher ed marketing. But rather than offering recycled takes, this episode delivers three powerful reframes that challenge conventional thinking and offer clarity amidst the chaos. - - - - Connect With Our Host: Allison Turcio https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisontu...