Admissions Policy on Ethical Recruiting Practices

Dunwoody College of Technology embraces the values and guiding principles laid out in the “Guide to Ethical Practice in College Admission” as articulated by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC).

“College counseling and admission professionals help students make thoughtful choices about their futures. Our work is guided by principles of honesty, integrity, transparency, equity, and respect for students and fellow professionals. These values guide us in our service to students and families, our institutions, society and each other.”

NACAC, Guide to Ethical Practice in College Admission, 20201

Those practices are embedded within this Code of Conduct in compliance with the Higher Learning Commission’s Policy on Recruiting, Admissions, and Related Enrollment Practices (FDCR.A.20.020).2

Core Values

Education

We believe in and are committed to educating students, their families, the public, fellow education professionals, and ourselves about the transition to and within postsecondary education.

Access and Equity

We believe we should strive to increase access and eliminate from the education system bias based on race, ethnicity, religion or creed, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, political affiliation, national origin, or disability. We view this as fundamental to our responsibility as educators.

Professionalism

We believe that ethical behavior is the foundation of the counseling, admission, and enrollment management profession. We are responsible for the integrity of our actions and, insofar as we can affect them, the actions of our member institutions, organizations, and individuals.

Collegiality

We believe members should conduct dialogue with openness to differences, listening to various perspectives from a place of support and understanding. Members should strive to disagree without being abusive or demeaning.

Collaboration

We believe the effectiveness of our profession—college counseling, admission, and enrollment management—is enhanced when we work together to advocate for students and their best interests.

Trust

We believe our profession is based upon trust and honesty with one another and with students.

Social Responsibility

We believe we have a duty to create a society that is free from racial and other biases for our colleagues and the students we serve.

 

Guiding Principles and Rationale

Truthfulness and Transparency

All faculty and staff involved in the recruitment of prospective students should ensure all students are able to make informed decisions by providing comprehensive and accurate information. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Accurately describing, representing, and promoting the College’s programs and services to students and the public. Anyone involved in the recruiting process should never misrepresent themselves or the College.
  • Sharing information relevant to the College’s enrollment process that is accurate, up-to-date, and free from misrepresentations of fact or material omissions.
  • Not disseminating inaccurate, misleading or disparaging information about other secondary schools, colleges, organizations, or individual professionals.
  • Ensuring that alumni/ae representatives and interviewers, third-party agents, vendors and other representatives working on the College’s behalf follow these same ethical principles.
  • If publishing translations, ensure they fully and accurately reflect the meaning of the text in the original language.

The College’s marketing and admissions materials will provide comprehensive, accurate, and current information concerning:

  • All deadlines for topics that impact students directly, including admission, scholarships, financial aid, and housing.
  • Factors considered in making admission, financial aid, and scholarship decisions.
  • Academic program areas, student support services, and student life activities.
  • Student housing information, including availability, requirements, and costs.
  • Cost of attendance, types of scholarships and other financial aid.
  • Significant changes to institutional policies and procedures due to pandemics, severe weather, or other extraordinary circumstances.

The College will not use marketing incentives to induce or pressure prospective students to enroll by specific deadlines. The College will also not use incentives such as prizes, free goods or services, or quid pro quo offers involving financial aid, institutional discounts or waiving of fees to pressure students to enroll.

Marketing materials will not contain promises or guarantees of employment or pay in relation to program outcomes. Materials may include expected job titles, opportunity outlook, and employment information as reported in recent Career Services Reports as long as the information is not presented as a guaranteed outcome.

Additionally, the College will provide accurate and comprehensive school profile data whenever, and wherever it is required. This includes:

  • Ensuring data reported on school profiles and other documents is accurate and current.
  • Providing transparency about when data was collected, and the groups included or excluded from the data.

Professional Conduct

The primary ethical responsibility of all faculty and staff involved in the recruitment of prospective students is to advocate for students’ best interest in the admissions process. Interactions with students should engender a high level of trust. Conflicts of interest, whether real or perceived, should be reported to the Director of Admissions.

Dunwoody will provide college admission counseling that puts students first by:

  • Providing guidance and information to help students determine their best academic, personal, and financial college match.
  • Educate students and families of their ethical responsibilities in the admission process, including counseling students that it is unethical to plagiarize official documents or applications or fail to notify colleges is cases where they decided to decline their offers of admission.
  • Abstaining from the use of any high-pressure tactics, including making multiple unsolicited contacts (more than three a day) and engaging in same-day recruitment and registration.
  • Admissions personnel should have appropriate education, job titles, and training for their role and are required to adhere to this Code of Conduct.
  • Professional Conduct

 

The College and its employees will maintain a culture of collaboration and collegiality and will not disseminate inaccurate, misleading, or disparaging information about other secondary schools, colleges, organizations, or individual professionals.

Confidentiality

All faculty and staff at Dunwoody College are expected to maintain a high level of confidentiality. This includes protecting the confidentiality of all information shared; adhering to all Dunwoody policies with respect to confidentiality and privacy and keeping confident a prospective student’s status in relation to application, acceptance, financial aid, or scholarship offers.

1 Guide to Ethical Practice in College Admission, National Association for College Admission Counseling, September 2020.

2 Higher Learning Commission Policy: Recruiting, Admissions and Related Institutional Practices, Policy Number FDCR.A.20.020, February 2023.

Dunwoody College of Technology

Recruiting Ethical Code of Conduct Communication Plan

 

Annually

A Power Point presentation is prepared and delivered annually to all faculty and staff at the August All Employee Meeting that serves as a kick-off to the academic year. Additionally, the College will present the topic at a Faculty Break-out session around the same time of the year.  Links to this policy as well as to the NACAC Guide to Ethical Practice in College Admission will be posted in the Dunwoody Observer as well.

Enrollment Leaders will address this topic as an Issue during L-10 meetings for the Enrollment Managers, Admissions team, Marketing Team, and Financial Aid team, where an activity and discussion will accentuate the learning. The training will also be delivered annually in an Alumni Association meeting.

Ad-Hoc

The Ethical Code of Conduct document will be given to all new hires in the Enrollment Division along with a targeted meeting with Q/A time to make sure there is complete understanding. In time, there may be virtual training prepared to be delivered electronically to all new hires in their first month of employment.

The College expects all external partners, and anyone engaging in shared recruiting or participates in any portion of the recruiting practice to adhere to the standards set forth in the Dunwoody policy and makes the document a part of all memorandums of understandings or external agreements.