After COVID-19, more students are remote. Students on and off campus are busier than ever, too. They’re juggling schoolwork, jobs, and social lives while trying to stay safe and healthy. They don’t have time to make calls or answer long emails. However, they can quickly send or answer texts. Enter college SMS.
College SMS is the fastest, most efficient way to get in touch with your institution’s student body. Today’s students want to use SMS for everything from scheduling to checking in with their advisors.
Read on to discover the top 9 things students want to manage via SMS.
1. Work-Study Coordination
Work-study jobs are a huge part of college life. For some of the more flexible roles, scheduling shifts and managing changing needs can be difficult via email. Students don’t check emails frequently enough to catch real-time changes. Now, your departments can use college SMS to manage shifts and let students know when they’re needed. Students won’t miss last-minute opportunities, and they can let their supervisors know if they’ve been held up.
2. Paperwork and Bills
Many modern students manage their own billing, income, and other administrative business. It can be difficult for them to keep track of requirements and deadlines, especially when they’re balancing their studies and campus jobs, too. With college SMS, your administrative teams can text reminders and answer student questions about upcoming bills, waivers, or other important business items.
3. Student Life
Student life events are the heart of your institution’s social scene. These free or inexpensive events help students connect with one another and reduce stress. But your organization hosts so many events that students can struggle to keep track of them. If your events are mostly online because of a temporary situation, like a virus outbreak, they’re even harder to remember. College SMS reminders are a convenient way for students to learn when a fun event they’re interested in is about to start—and where they need to go on campus (or online) to join up.
4. Meal Plans
Eating an appropriate amount of food is key to maintaining enough energy to make it through busy school days. But planning meals can be tricky for students with set meal plans. An SMS meal plan reminder is a great way to let them know the number of meals they have left. Students will appreciate that they’re making the most out of their pre-paid meals, and your team can ensure they stay healthy.
5. Laundry
Students sometimes feel like laundry slows them down on busy days. Often, they’ll drop off their laundry then head somewhere to study. But they may forget when they need to head back, or simply get distracted. They’d like an alert to let them know when to head back. Some business texting platforms can provide these alerts through an SMS integration. They can sync with an advanced laundry provider to send students texts right when their laundry is ready. This helps students streamline laundry day—and keeps the laundry rooms running smoothly.
6. Reporting Minor Issues
A campus is full of moving parts. Sometimes, broken lamp lights or malfunctioning food dispensers happen. Normally, students would have to call campus maintenance to report these problems. But they may not feel like talking to someone, and may not even know who to call. College SMS is a great channel for student reporting. Your team can offer a quick number for students to text with a picture, explanation, and location. Students will be more likely to text in, keeping your campus up-to-par.
7. Class Changes
Professors cancel class on occasion, like when they’re feeling ill. They sometimes also decide to hold class in a different room, or outdoors when the weather is nice. They often send these updates via email, which students may not have a chance to check an hour before class. This can leave students out in the cold. With college SMS, professors can quickly send texts letting their class know changes, all without giving away their personal phone numbers. Students are more likely to open the text within time to make the necessary adjustments.
8. Advisor Check-Ins
Strong advisor relationships are key to collegiate success. But students struggle to make the time to drop into their advisors’ offices for casual chats. With college SMS, students can text their professors through a departmental line to ask questions and offer updates. Plus, advisors can check in through SMS too, ensuring that their advisees are on track.
9. Feedback
Your teams aim to provide the best student experience possible. To do that, you need to know how students feel about their time on campus. But students don’t have time to answer an email survey or chat in person. By sending a quick survey questions through college SMS, your teams are more likely to get answers.
Ready to communicate through college students’ favorite channel? Try our text service for business today.
