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21
Who they are, how they're unique, and why that
matters to your college or university
By Jenni Valentino, Senior Writer
The
millennial generation doesn't
have a great reputation among
baby boomers. Millennials, born
between the early 1980s and the early 2000s (while there
are no precise dates when the generation starts and
ends, these are the years used by most researchers and
commentators), are oen perceived to be lazy, selfish,
entitled and disconnected from their communities. As
such, there is an underlying stance not to "give in" to the
whims of millennials, to instead force them to conform
to the educational and employment standards set by the
generations before: applying for enrollment and financial
aid on paper, waiting weeks or months for news of their
acceptance or denial, spending hours upon hours in a
series of classrooms, expressing gratitude for an unpaid
internship, then a 40-hour-per-week-in-a-cubicle-and-
suit entry-level position.
However, the success of today's higher education industry is
driven by the changing body of students it serves – millennial
students who expect better, faster, more accessible service
and results than their counterparts of the past. Adapting
to meet the growing demands of these students, who are
easily frustrated by slow decision-making and response
time, cumbersome campus policies, and rigid classroom
management, is perhaps one of the biggest challenges faced
by today's administrators – and it is also one of the most
important to address.
Millennials operate under an expectation of instant
gratification and personalization in all aspects of their lives,
including their interactions with your college and university
staff. According to Gartner analyst Jan-Martin Lowendahl in
2013's "Gartner Higher Education Business Model Scenarios:
Digitalization Drives Disruptive Innovation and Changes
