EXAMINATION OF RELATIONSHIPS OF SELECTED DETERMINANTS AND STUDENT RECRUITMENT STRATEGIES IN HOME ECONOMICS PROGRAMS (ADMINISTRATION, ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE, ENVIRONMENT)

The purpose of this study was to identify recruitment strategies used in home economics programs in higher education and to examine the relationships among the strategies and selected determinants. Determinants included size of the home economics program, organizational structure responsible for planning recruitment strategies, and environmental factors related to use of recruitment strategies.;Conclusions drawn from the findings were: (1) Undergraduate home economics programs use a variety of recruitment strategies to varying degrees. The strategy used to the greatest extent was college visitations. Students, administrators and faculty are highly involved in contacts with high schools and junior colleges, special campus activities, writing letters, and making phone calls to recruit students. Alumni are involved in special recruitment committees and speaking engagements. Students are involved in recruitment committees. (2) The organizational structure most responsible for recruitment was the top administrative office within home economics, followed by a group outside home economics and then persons within home economics. (3) Many programs have increased recruiting over the past two years. The most frequent reason for this is enrollment decline. (4) Differences in size, organizational structure, and environment may account for differences in the extent to which various recruitment strategies are used.;Recommendations for application and further research include: (1) Professional organizations should instigate inservice to help others with recruitment and marketing plans. (2) Descriptions of effective strategies should be written for publication. (3) Research should be designed to investigate the effectiveness of various strategies. (4) A continual investigation into labor market projections for home economists is needed. (5) Case studies of programs that have been successful in recruiting should be developed. (6) Replication of the study could be done for other program areas and graduate home economics programs.;A random sample of 160 undergraduate home economic programs was drawn from a total of 350. The sample represented various sizes and institutional types. Questionnaires were sent to administrators, and 134 (84%) usable responses were returned.