As Elon University’s enrollment continues to grow, the school brings in students from all regions of the country and the world. And as national recognition continues to pour in, Elon’s reputation grows with it.

“If you say ‘Elon’ in Boston, if you say ‘Elon’ in Massachusetts, if you say ‘Elon’ in New York City, people know who we are,” said President Leo Lambert in his first address to SGA Sept. 1. “They’ll know, ‘Oh, it’s a beautiful school, hard to get into, smart kids, a good business school and a good communications school.’”

But the university has noticed that within its home state of North Carolina, the school’s past continues to shape how people view it.

“If you say ‘Elon’ in North Carolina, people will say ‘Oh, Elon College,’” Lambert said, then laughed. “And they’ll remember a really small school. There are probably some people in Greensboro who haven’t heard about us, and that just blows my mind.”

Now, Elon is refocusing its efforts on marketing in North Carolina and hopes to show the new school to a population of people that remember the Elon of the past.

“We, right now, have an active subterranean campaign starting at the end of this month and we’re hoping to reintroduce Elon to North Carolina,” Lambert said. “We’re doing ad buys in publications that people read — like the Business Journal — and we are strategically inviting people to come to our campus.”

Vice President of Admissions Greg Zaiser said that his department has added a second staff member to focus on recruiting North Carolina students, a model that Elon moved away from as its staff was reassigned to other areas. But Elon’s in-state representation in the past two years has dropped to 16 percent a sharp decline from a decade ago when 27 percent of Elon’s freshman class came from North Carolina, according to the university factbook.

Zaiser said that, while geography isn’t truly a factor by which students get in to the school, he wants North Carolina to remain on top.
“Given North Carolina is our home, I’d like to see it remain our most represented state,” Zaiser said in an email. “North Carolina enrollment in this year’s class is similar to last year because the class is 30 students larger, we have not lost ground compared to last [year]”

Zaiser hopes that bolstering the promotion of Elon’s Odyssey scholarships — the majority of which are from North Carolina residents — will help increase the percentage. But he also recognizes that the state has many different options for its residents.

“North Carolina is full of great opportunities for higher education,” Zaiser said. “In addition to the flagship state system, there are 36 private colleges and universities. That’s a lot of competition. Overall, the two schools with which we cross the most applications are the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wake Forest University. That’s great company.”

It is also tough company, especially as the state has cut funding for residents to attend private colleges. But Zaiser remains hopeful that Elon’s opportunities, programs and “overall excellence” will make on impact on in-state applicants.

“Elon has grown and evolved a lot over the years — not every school has done this to such a degree,” Zaiser said. “Our goal is to make sure people are aware of the Elon of today. It’s always been a good school, but we have really differentiated ourselves with our commitment to extraordinary faculty, excellent teaching and engaged learning.”

Elon's football team makes intentional effort to recruit

46 of the 97 players on the Elon University football team are from North Carolina

While Elon University President Leo Lambert is looking to push a marketing campaign about the school to its North Carolina residents, one program on campus began a few years ago and is already reaping the benefits, the football team.

From the moment he was hired, head coach Rich Skrosky set his sights on recruiting in Elon’s home state, seeing a blend of quantity and quality that makes it tough to want to leave the borders.

“I think, at any school you’re at, you want to do well in your home state — I don’t care what state it is,” Skrosky said. “We’re fortunate to have the ninth-most populated state in the country, and it has quality football. When you add in Virginia Beach, South Carolina and Georgia, we don’t really have to go anywhere else.”

With his first two full recruiting classes, Skrosky has had “about 70 to 75 percent” of the class hail from North Carolina when factoring in the walk-ons. In total, 46 of the 97 players on the 2016 roster are in-state students.
When out on the recruiting trail, Skrosky has noticed that the difficult sell isn’t with the recruits — it’s with the parents.
“For the people who are native North Carolinians, this is a different Elon,” Skrosky said. “If you’re a parent in that 40-50 [year-old] range, when you were looking at schools, Elon was a different school than now. I think that message hasn’t hit that generation of people.”

Skrosky said the alumni are the ones in his ear the most about how much Elon has changed.

“They knew Elon as a small, Southern, regional school,” Skrosky said. “Then they come back, they see the campus, they see the academic recognition and the national recognition it gets, and they’re like, ‘Oh my God, Elon’s different than it was in 1980.’”

It is a lot different, as is the level Elon plays on. Through the years, Elon’s movement up from National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) has shifted Elon athletics in line with its enrollment trends, something Skrosky believes is a benefit.

“The school has been trending Northeast for a long time now,” Skrosky said. “That dynamic helps us in the CAA, in the fanbase, and it helps attract kids here because of the geographic diversity of our institution.”

But that doesn’t change Skrosky’s focus on North Carolina football players, selling them on the community and culture at Elon. He calls it a “pretty easy sell,” and Vice President of Admissions Greg Zaiser supports that claim, saying Skrosky and the coaching staff, “do a great job getting student-athletes to apply for admissions.”

Skrosky says he and Zaiser have a great relationship, and the community across campus was key in his return to campus as head coach.

“Our connection to admissions is awesome,” Skrosky said. “That’s Elon though. There’s no agenda — whether you’re in admissions, financial aid or football, it’s, ‘What can we do to help?’

“That dynamic is one of the reasons I came back.”