Step into the 21st century

Who doesn’t like mail, especially when a check from mom or dad is enclosed? A personal letter from a long lost friend can brighten any day. Packages are exciting and magazines are fun.

But junk mail is awful.

Each year, IU sends postcards to potential students in an effort to persuade them to attend. While such mail promotions might have been popular in the days when kids collected stamps, today they seem to have lost their appeal. 

What’s cutting-edge about a postcard? Do they scream, “Welcome to a top-tier research institution?” We think not.

Nevertheless, IU sends hundreds of thousands of postcards to prospective students with qualified test scores and academic records. About 200,000 recipients’ names are purchased from the organizations that administrator the SAT and ACT at a cost of approximately $63,000.

Add design, processing and production fees – and don’t forget postage – and it becomes clear that the University spends a good chunk of money on an archaic form of outreach.

In fact, it seems odd that the University would spend such funds on advertising to potential freshmen when numbers don’t seem to be a problem. Last spring, the number of incoming freshman applications increased by 18 percent. And this fall, scores of freshmen were housed in dorm lounges until permanent housing could be found.

While this year’s freshman class is smaller than the one preceding it, several other factors – among them the deflated economy – seem to be to blame.

Could postcards really lure fresh talent to the campus?

As Sarah Gallagher Dvorak, the senior associate director of marketing and communication in the Office of Admissions admitted, only about 3 percent of students who receive the postcard respond.

While it’s important that the university promote its name and reputation, it seems like the most effective way to do that would be to improve its academic programs – or hope that the football team keeps winning.

As far as the postcards go, it’s time to step into the 21st century.