Enrollment messaging for Ohio colleges must start with belief.
Search “Is college worth it?” and you will find the real competition facing higher education. It’s not just the university across town, the community college with a lower sticker price, the private college offering more aid, the state school with a stronger athletics brand, or the online program promising speed and flexibility.
The real competition is doubt.
Students are doubting whether college will lead to a job. Parents are doubting whether the debt makes sense. Adult learners are doubting whether they have the time. First-generation students are doubting whether they will belong. High school students are doubting whether the traditional path still fits the world they are entering.
That doubt is not irrational. It is informed by cost, debt, AI, family economics, alternative credentials, skilled trades, social media narratives, and a labor market that feels less predictable than it used to. For Ohio colleges, universities, and community colleges, this changes the assignment. College enrollment strategy and marketing can no longer simply promote the institution. It has to answer the objection.
Students aren’t comparing schools. They’re questioning the path.
For years, the value of college was treated as self-evident. The job of marketing was to differentiate the school: our campus, our programs, our faculty, our culture, our outcomes, our experience. That still matters, but the audience is starting from a different place.
Gallup’s 2025 research found that only 35% of Americans now say college is “very important.” In 2010, that number was 75%. Pew Research Center found that only 22% of Americans say the cost of a four-year college degree is worth it if someone has to take out loans. Nearly half say it is worth it only without loans, and nearly three in ten say it is not worth the cost at all.
That does not mean students have stopped caring about their future. It means they are scrutinizing the path. They are asking a more practical, more personal, and more urgent question: Is this worth it for me? That question needs to become central to the enrollment message, not something institutions avoid because it feels too negative.
The data still supports the value of higher education.
This is the paradox higher education has to confront. The economic case for college is still strong for many students. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics continues to show that workers with higher levels of education generally earn more and experience lower unemployment. In 2024, workers with a bachelor’s degree had median weekly earnings of $1,543, compared with $930 for workers whose highest level of education was a high school diploma. The unemployment rate for bachelor’s degree holders was 2.5%, compared with 4.2% for high school graduates.
The New York Fed’s 2025 analysis also found that the return to college remains significant, estimating a 12.5% return for the typical college graduate. Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce has reported that bachelor’s degree holders earn a median of $2.8 million over a career, compared with $1.6 million for workers with a high school diploma.
So the problem is not that college has no value.
The problem is that students and families do not experience the value proposition as automatic, universal, or guaranteed. That distinction matters. A generic “college is worth it” message will not overcome a specific fear about debt, career outcomes, fit, completion, mental health, belonging. or family finances.
College enrollment strategy must focus on moving students through uncertainty.
The more useful read is not that young people are anti-college. Many still want education after high school. Lumina Foundation and Gallup’s 2025 State of Higher Education research found that 57% of unenrolled adults had considered enrolling in a degree or credential program in the previous two years.
That is not apathy. That is stalled demand.
Students are interested but unsure. They are open but unconvinced. They are considering but not committing. That is the space college enrollment strategy and marketing needs to occupy.
For a university, this may mean proving that a four-year degree leads to real career mobility, not just personal growth. A community college may focus on showing that the first step is affordable, flexible, and directly connected to work or transfer. Regional institutions can demonstrate that staying close to home still leads to a powerful future. Private colleges may need to make net cost, support systems, and outcomes feel far more concrete than published tuition suggests. The institutions that win will not be the ones that ignore doubt. They will be the ones that help students move through it.
This is the unexpected shift. Most college enrollment strategies and campaigns are built around confidence. They show the best version of campus life, celebrate outcomes, elevate the promise, and create inspiration.
But in the current market, inspiration without proof can feel thin. Students already know the optimistic version of college. What they need is help with the hard questions they are asking quietly, searching privately, or discussing at the kitchen table.
What are students really asking before they apply?
- “Will I get a job?”
- “Is community college a smarter first step?”
- “Will I graduate?”
- “Will I fit in?”
- “Will this degree matter in the future?”
- “Is a certificate enough?”
- “Is college still worth it?”
- “Will I be able to afford it?”
- “Is it better to work first?”
- “Will my credits transfer?”
- “Are there internship opportunities available?”
- “Will AI change the career that I am choosing?”
A stronger college enrollment strategy does not bury those questions. It builds content, campaigns, and conversion pathways around them. That is what it means to market to the doubt.
Higher education marketing must account for the emotional process.
Many schools are still organizing their communications around the formal admissions funnel: inquiry, visit, application, acceptance, deposit, and enrollment. That funnel is still operationally useful, but it misses the emotional funnel that happens first.
Students begin forming beliefs about whether college is worth considering even before they inquire. They assess credibility when deciding whether to schedule a visit. They weigh risk during the application stage. And they seek reassurance that they’re making the right choice before they deposit.
This is where higher education marketing has to get more sophisticated. The beginning of the funnel is no longer just awareness. It is belief formation. That means colleges need content that answers value questions earlier, more directly, and in the language students actually use. Program pages, paid search campaigns, landing pages, social content, email journeys, financial aid explainers, parent communications, and admissions materials all need to work harder to convert uncertainty into confidence.
Students’ search behavior is the strategy.
The phrase “Is college worth it?” should not sit outside a college’s communications plan. It should sit near the center of it. That search query tells us what the market is thinking. It is blunt, emotional, and practical. Students aren’t looking for another mission statement, viewbook, or list of majors. They are looking for proof.
A college that understands this can create a stronger enrollment ecosystem. Content can be built around affordability, outcomes, program ROI, transfer pathways, employer partnerships, internship access, alumni outcomes, career coaching, completion support, and first-year belonging. Landing pages can answer high-intent questions instead of repeating institutional claims. Paid search can reach students at moments of skepticism, while organic, AI-search-friendly content can position the institution as the clearest answer when students are comparing options.
The opportunity is not only to be found, but to be useful at the exact moment doubt appears.
Brand positioning matters when every school sounds the same.
The college enrollment problem is intensified by sameness. Most colleges claim to be student-centered, to have caring faculty, to prepare students for meaningful careers, to offer hands-on learning, and to provide community, opportunity, and support.
None of that is wrong. It is just not enough.
In a skeptical market, the institution has to know what it can own. That requires a sharper look at competitive positioning. Not just who offers similar programs, shares the same geography, or competes on cost or ranking. The real question is, what doubt can your institution answer better than anyone else?
A community college may own the doubt around affordability and first-step confidence. A regional public university may own the doubt around practical career access without leaving home. A private college may own the doubt around personal support, completion, and transformation. A faith-based institution may own the doubt around belonging, purpose, and values. A technical college may own the doubt around speed-to-work and employer alignment.
The mistake is trying to answer every doubt with the same message. Better positioning means choosing the doubt you are best equipped to resolve.
Ohio’s postsecondary market makes better positioning even more urgent.
Ohio institutions are competing in a state with a rich but crowded postsecondary ecosystem: public universities, private colleges, branch campuses, community colleges, technical programs, dual-enrollment pathways, and online alternatives.
At the same time, the national demographic pressure is real. WICHE projects that the number of U.S. high school graduates will peak in 2025 and then decline steadily through 2041. Ohio is not immune to that pressure. Public data and reporting show the state’s enrollment picture is uneven, with some community colleges seeing growth while other institutions face continued pressure. That means the old assumption of a stable pool of traditional high school graduates is no longer safe.
Schools have to compete more intentionally for the students who are still deciding, the students who are delaying, the students who are choosing between work and school, the students who are considering a certificate instead of a degree, and the students who are comparing two-year, four-year, public, private, online, and employer-based options at the same time.
The competitive set has expanded. The message has to expand with it.
Proof has to become easier to find.
A student should not have to dig for the answer to value. The proof should be visible in the first few moments of the experience. It should show up on program pages. It should appear in search results. It should be clear in admissions materials. It should be present in parent communications. It should be reinforced in email. It should be built into campus visits. It should be easy for counselors, faculty, and admissions teams to repeat.
Proof does not have to be cold or purely statistical. It can be a student story that shows a path from uncertainty to confidence. It can be an employer quote. It can be a transfer map. It can be a net-cost explanation. It can be a first-generation student talking about support. It can be a graduate showing where the degree led. It can be an advisor explaining how credits stack. It can be a faculty member connecting coursework to work. It can be a local workforce story that shows why a specific program matters in Ohio right now.
The point is not to overwhelm students with data, but to make the decision feel safer.
The schools that answer the doubts will move faster.
Enrollment teams are under pressure because the market is under pressure. Leadership wants numbers. Admissions teams need deposits. Marketing teams are being asked to generate demand. Financial aid teams are trying to explain cost in a climate of skepticism. Academic units want their programs to stand out. Everyone feels the urgency, but urgency often produces more tactics when the institution actually needs more clarity.
Another campaign will not fix an unclear value proposition. More impressions will not solve a weak program page. A new viewbook will not overcome a vague answer to “What happens after I graduate?” A stronger media buy will not help if the landing page does not reduce fear.
The answer is not more noise but a better answer.
College enrollment strategy is where TWIST helps.
TWIST works with education brands to turn institutional value into language students, families, and communities can actually use. For postsecondary schools, that means building communications around the real decision students are making. We help institutions clarify their position, identify the competitive doubt they are best equipped to answer, sharpen the message, organize proof, and create the college enrollment marketing materials, campaigns, content, and digital pathways that move students from questioning to considering to committing.
This is not traditional brand work separated from enrollment performance. It is brand strategy in service of enrollment action. Because in this market, the strongest brand is not the one with the most polished promise. It is the one that gives students the most confidence.
The question is not whether college is worth it. That question is too broad. The better question is whether your institution can prove its value clearly enough, specifically enough, and early enough to matter in the student’s decision. That is the new college enrollment marketing challenge.
Market to the doubt, then answer it better than anyone else.
About the Author
Michael E. Ozan, Co-Founder & CEO at TWIST Creative, is a strategist and brand builder trusted by purpose-driven CEOs and boards. For over 25 years he’s delivered market guidance and campaigns that align teams, sharpen spend, and produce measurable, defensible outcomes.
