Marist College has expanded its relationship with GoalQuest, Inc., a software company providing automated, intelligence-based enrollment management tools, to develop interactive communications programs for parents of high school seniors and incoming freshmen. The new programs build upon the success of Marist’s Online Insider, a GoalQuest eCRUIT™ program targeting high school prospects, now in its third year.

The new initiative will utilize GoalQuest’s PICS™ (Parents Involved in College Selection) products. Marist will deploy the Company’s PICS:eCRUIT tool to high school parents immersed in the college consideration process. The program will open a “virtual dialogue” on topics like scholarship research, evaluating academic programs and advising a son or daughter on the application process itself.

Marist will also use GoalQuest’s PICS:FYRe (Freshman Year Retention) program to strengthen its communications with first-year parents, providing them with information on campus services and resources, expert-written support advice and regular updates on campus events. The program leverages the extensive research showing that the likelihood of student success increases when parents become informed, active participants.

GoalQuest and Marist plan to launch both of the new programs this summer.

“We are very excited to be using GoalQuest’s tools to reach out to parents of prospects and freshmen,” said Sean Kaylor, Vice President of Admissions and Enrollment Planning at Marist. “We believe the company’s unique combination of technical solutions and custom-created content can enhance Marist’s relationship with parents while addressing parents’ needs and concerns in the recruiting and retention windows.”

Each GoalQuest product is based on a proprietary messaging technology that deploys “nuggets” of information and engaging activities to a school’s target audience, while monitoring engagement in that information over time. GoalQuest’s Enrolligence™ index delivers real-time engagement data to provide schools with unprecedented communication intelligence for more informed decisions. This dynamic knowledge-base can help impact acceptance and enrollment yield, student attrition, alumni development and other key enrollment and development metrics.

Each of Marist’s programs will take advantage of GoalQuest’s new product features, including integrated Live Alerts to narrow-cast time-sensitive announcements, as well as custom survey and assessment modules.

“GoalQuest is thrilled to expand its relationship with Marist,“ said Tracy Howe, GoalQuest’s Executive Vice President of Sales. “We are particularly pleased knowing that the College chose to develop its new parent programs only after carefully scrutinizing the results of its existing GoalQuest efforts. Marist’s strategic decision to utilize GoalQuest as a central component of its parent communications reflects the success of our products both at Marist and at schools around the country.”

About Marist College
Marist's 150-acre campus overlooks the Hudson River in the heart of the historic Hudson Valley, midway between New York City and Albany, the state capital. Founded in 1929, Marist is one of the leading colleges of the arts and sciences in the Northeast. Marist College is home to approximately 4,000 traditional undergraduate men and women, 1,100 adult continuing education students and another 1,000 graduate students. The college is noted for its leadership in the use of technology to enhance the teaching and learning process, preparing its students to enter the work force of the 21st century.

About GoalQuest
GoalQuest, Inc. is a New York City-based software company specializing in innovative solutions for the education market. Since its inception in 2000, GoalQuest's proprietary software tools have assisted colleges and universities across the country in their recruiting, enrollment yield, retention, parent and alumni communication efforts. GoalQuest's proprietary Enrolligence™ index delivers real-time engagement data to schools, providing them with unprecedented communication intelligence for more informed decisions. NASPA (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators), the nation’s leading organization for student affairs administration, policy and practice, recently approved GoalQuest’s suite of retention and student assessment tools. For additional information about GoalQuest, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.goalquest.com.