Aims Marketing Team Wins National Awards for Affordability Push

Aims Community College's Marketing and Communications team has earned multiple national honors, including a prestigious Platinum MarCom Award, for creative campaigns highlighting student affordability and campus life—showing how the institution is using professional marketing to compete for enrollment in Northern Colorado's higher education market.

"These awards show that strong communication matters and the Aims MarCom team is exceptional," said Dr. Leah L. Bornstein, Aims Community College CEO and President. "When we tell our story well, we strengthen connections with students, families and the communities we serve."

The marketing push is paying off. Aims enrolled 8,271 students in fall 2024 as of September 16, more than 20 percent higher than the previous year.

Aims earned Platinum from the MarCom Awards—the competition's highest recognition—for its Affordability Campaign display ad work. The college also captured Gold from the Education Digital Marketing Awards for the Affordability Campaign and Greeley campus video, Gold from the Viddy Awards for the Greeley campus video, and Gold from MarCom for a student story video.

The MarCom Awards, an international creative competition for marketing and communications professionals, recognizes work that serves as a benchmark for the industry. The Viddy Awards, one of the oldest and largest video industry competitions, recognizes excellence in video production.

College officials credited intensified outreach and affordability initiatives with driving enrollment gains. Dana Kohler, Executive Director of Enrollment Management, described the strategy as "Getting out there telling the Aims story."

Aims is betting on affordability to compete. The college distributed $7.6 million in financial aid before fall 2024 classes began—$2 million more than the year prior. According to the Colorado Department of Higher Education, Aims' resident tuition and fees for 30 credit hours cost $2,270 in FY2021-22 and $2,420 in FY2022-23.

Roughly 40 percent of Aims' students participate in high-school dual enrollment, with that population growing about 10 percent yearly since 2019. Raymond Chard, Executive Director of High School Programs, cited "broad high-school partnerships and pathways" as key to the increases.

For more information, visit Aims.edu/news-events.