The Campus Hospitality Playbook: Impactful Community Partnerships in Higher Ed

To nail that all-important first impression every time, you’re going to need a campus hospitality strategy.

A well-executed hospitality plan ensures that everyone on campus, from faculty and staff to students, delivers a consistently warm and welcoming experience. 

This positive first impression can be a game-changer for prospective students and their families, setting your institution apart and making them more likely to see your campus as their future home. 

It’s all about building trust and engagement from the very first interaction, encouraging prospective students to participate in tours, open houses, and other critical touchpoints that guide them closer to enrolling.

On the flip side, without a campus hospitality strategy, colleges and universities risk falling into the trap of inconsistency and missed opportunities. 

When there’s no clear strategy for how to welcome and engage with prospective students and visitors, the experience can vary widely depending on who they interact with on campus. 

This inconsistency can lead to confusion and a lack of trust, making it difficult for prospective students to feel a connection or sense of belonging. 

When students and their families leave campus without feeling genuinely welcomed or understood, the chances of them choosing to enroll decrease significantly. 

In a market where first impressions can make or break enrollment decisions, not having a hospitality strategy means you’re potentially losing out on future students before they even apply.

Missouri Baptist University has taken a unique approach to student recruitment and community engagement by implementing a campus hospitality playbook. 

Developed by Bryce Chapman, Senior Vice President for Enrollment, Marketing, and University Communications, and Brittany Sansagraw, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management, this strategy focuses on infusing hospitality into every interaction on campus. 

By leveraging their Christian mission and values, MBU has created a playbook that not only enhances the campus experience for students but also engages the broader community. 

Let’s dive into how this innovative approach is redefining their higher ed marketing.

Embracing Campus Hospitality at the Core

Missouri Baptist University’s campus hospitality playbook isn’t just a list of niceties—it’s a strategic framework rooted in the university’s Christian ethos. 

“MBU is a Christ-centered institution. We believe that Christ extends abundant hospitality to us, and so we are committed to doing the same for others. We see it as a commandment.” – Bryce Chapman 

This guiding principle informs every interaction, ensuring that everyone from prospective students to faculty members feels valued and welcome.

The hospitality playbook at MBU is structured around practical, actionable guidelines that foster a culture of warmth and openness. 

These include simple but impactful actions like always wearing name tags, greeting visitors warmly, picking up litter on campus, and communicating respectfully. 

Brittany Sansagraw highlighted the collaborative nature of this initiative.

It wasn’t a top-down approach by any means. 

Our enrollment team, in particular, was very good at [campus hospitality], but it did vary by counselor, by staff member, and by online and grad versus traditional.

We brought this group together and said, “You guys are doing this so well! So let’s share [this strategy with others]. What are the things that each of you do every day to bring hospitality into your role?” We started brainstorming and writing down that information. 

The great part about the campus hospitality playbook is that every enrollment team member participated in creating the content. Each raised their hand and agreed to do these things.

By having each enrollment team member participating in creating the content, they were more invested in following these guidelines. 

“It’s about setting a baseline and saying, ‘We are all going to do these things to make everyone feel welcome,'” Brittany noted.

Extending Hospitality Beyond Campus

MBU’s commitment to hospitality isn’t confined to the campus. The university actively seeks to extend this culture into the community through strategic partnerships. 

Many folks on campus were participating in partnerships over the last several years at MBU, but there wasn’t anything formalized. [No one was] looking at how partnerships drive enrollment. 

And so we added [community partnerships] as a layer to our strategic enrollment management plan. [We began by] approaching and having conversations with community leaders. 

[We asked them questions like] What are you needing? What are you seeing? How can we help equip you with those people to fill those jobs? 

[As a result], these mutually beneficial partnerships started to naturally emerge with some of the healthcare entities in the area.

Another standout example is their collaboration with regional Chick-fil-A outlets, where employees can pursue MBU’s online undergraduate programs tuition-free. 

This partnership not only provides educational opportunities for Chick-fil-A employees but also fosters a sense of community between the university and local businesses. 

“We’re looking at the demographic shift. We know the enrollment cliff is coming,” Brittany shared. 

For her and her team, campus hospitality was one primary way to prepare for the inevitable challenges coming to higher ed marketing by helping them stand out to prospective students.

Leveraging Data to Drive Success

Data plays a vital role in shaping MBU’s enrollment strategies. 

By closely analyzing data on student retention and success rates, MBU has been able to identify key demographics that thrive in their environment. 

Bryce shared a particular case in which data verified a hunch that they had.

Our goal is to grow because we still have some capacity to grow on our main campus. 

Wanting to drive headcount, it was verified through our data that, in particular, our Christian high school and homeschool students do particularly well here when they get here. 

Armed with this information, Bryce and his team began to dig deeper.

They culled the data to examine the discrepancies between the financial aid offered to those prospective students from Christian high schools and homeschoolers who enrolled and those who didn’t.

They’ve been working for a year so far on improving their financial aid offers to these key demographics, and the results have been very positive. 

Insights like these have led to targeted recruitment efforts and partnerships with local Christian schools, further strengthening MBU’s enrollment pipeline. 

Throughout the conversation, Bryce stressed how data-driven decision-making is crucial in understanding who succeeds at MBU and how they can better serve them.

Campus Hospitality Driving Enrollment

Missouri Baptist University’s campus hospitality playbook and community partnership initiatives demonstrate how a commitment to hospitality can enhance the student experience and foster stronger community ties. 

By aligning their strategies with their Christian mission and focusing on both internal culture and external partnerships, MBU sets a compelling example for other institutions. 

The result is a more welcoming campus, increased enrollment, and meaningful community engagement.

Listen to our full interview with Bryce Chapman and Brittany Sansagraw to get even more insights into:

• The hospitality playbook at Missouri Baptist
• Leveraging partnerships to meet broader goals
• Why subscription models are critical to success

Take the Guesswork Out

Concerned that your enrollment marketing is running at its peak performance? 

With Caylor Solutions’ enrollment assessment, you can get rid of all the doubts and get a solid answer.

With this service, you’ll get an evaluation of your school’s existing enrollment processes and strategies, pinpointing both the strong areas and those areas that could use some improvement. 

At the end, we’ll give you a detailed report with specific, actionable recommendations aimed at boosting enrollment numbers, improving student retention, and enhancing overall student satisfaction.

Take the guesswork out of enrollment marketing with our proven assessment. 

Contact us today to learn more!

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