Wartburg College, a private liberal arts college in Iowa, knew that too often the ability to pay is a barrier to quality higher education and published prices can also be a barrier to even considering a school.
Like many colleges looking to get ahead of this, they were exploring new pricing models to address these barriers and encourage more students to explore Wartburg.
The College had done extensive financial modeling but needed to dive deeper. They needed to understand the impact potential changes would have not just on the cost of a Wartburg education and their bottom line, but how they would impact prospective students’ perceptions of the school and their likelihood to explore, visit, apply, or ultimately enroll.
Not leaving anything to chance, Wartburg hired Wallace360 to conduct research into students’ and parents’ perceptions of price and colleges, their thresholds for budget and interest, potential unforeseen impacts of cost, and more. Without revealing the College’s plans, Wallace360 surveyed 500+ junior and senior high school students and parents in the Midwest and across the U.S. The resulting data armed College leadership and its Board with crucial, real-time market information that would inform the high-stakes decision to adjust its published price.
The survey revealed crucial insights that ultimately lead to a multifaceted pricing plan: The Wartburg Commitment. The plan included a lower sticker price, targeted scholarship programs, and funding to support experiential education. It also led to informed decision-making around how to message the changes in a way that would drive a positive response – minimize confusion and misinformation and maximize interest in Wartburg.
Wallace360 developed a comprehensive communications plan for a staggered and strategic roll-out of the new pricing model, which also coincided with the launch of the new brand promise in September 2023.
Although a full recruitment cycle has not yet elapsed since the announcement, Wartburg’s Admissions office is already seeing a significant uptick in interest from prospective students who are not only drawn in by the pricing changes, but by the College’s new brand promise, Experience More.