Each year, high school seniors across the country are pelted with brochures, letters, and advertisements from various colleges. As part of the larger MOSAIC information technology overhaul project, the UA now has a new way to target potential students.

Connect, a software the UA has contracted from Hobsons Inc., will allow recruiters to more effectively communicate with students, said Nikolas Hodge, project manager for the student recruitment software implementation.

“”…We do a pretty darn good job communicating with our students right now but what Connect can do is help us communicate with our students in the future,”” Hodge said.

He said social networking sites and text messages are the new ways colleges are going to be communicating with potential students.

“”We wanted to make sure that we are on the forefront of that.”” Hodge said. “”We can’t just send letters all the time anymore.””

Not only will Connect allow recruiters to effectively reach potential students by means other than paper, it will also save the university money.

“”It’s a heck of a lot cheaper. Because, quite frankly it’s not just mailing a letter. You have to think about man hours, silly little things like ink and paper,”” Hodge said. “”We’re still going to be doing those. But we can only afford to do so many of those a year,”” she said.

The “”My UA”” page, which is used by potential students, is being revamped as part of Connect’s changes to recruitment.

“”Right now, at the University of Arizona, through the office of admissions, we’ve always had what’s called ‘My UA’ page,”” Hodge said, “”So you had your ‘My UA’ page which gave you pretty basic information but it was still good information,”” she said.

Hodge said through the Connect system the content on each page will be tailored to the specific student, Hodge said. For example, if a student is interested in a certain college or major, there might be information about it on their “”My UA”” page.

“”If a student changes their mind about what they want to major in, you know, they can go in and change their mind and instantaneously their page will reflect that,”” Hodge said, “”And it will have the college information with links to more information.””

Ryan Burton-Romero, assistant director of admissions, said the new software is more user-friendly than the recruitment programs the UA has had in the past.

“”We’re very excited to have something that is more functional and flexible in terms of what we’re looking for, what the University of Arizona is looking for,”” said Burton-Romero

Hodge said the new program is geared toward getting a better idea of what students are interested in so the university can communicate with them effectively.

“”We want to make sure that students who are choosing to go here, are choosing to go here because they’ve been given all the information they need to make that decision,”” Hodge said. “”I think we’re going to make more savvy consumers out of our students which ultimately benefits our university at large.””