UI will spend $500,000 more to recruit students

MOSCOW, Idaho – The University of Idaho board of directors has approved an additional $500,000 for a marketing campaign that will include efforts to reach potential students in southwest Idaho.

The $1.8 million total budget is for print, radio and television ads, as well as printed materials and recruitment over the Internet, said Tania Thompson, UI director of Media Relations.

She told the Lewiston Tribune that the school, if it spent triple that amount, could reach audiences in Seattle and Portland. Meanwhile, she said, the school is going after specific students, notably in the backyard of Boise State University, the largest school in the state with about 19,000 students.

UI plans to wrap two Boise city buses with advertisements, and begin running three 30-second television ads that will be ready by the time Idaho plays Boise State in football on Nov. 17.

The slogan on the buses will be “A Legacy of Leading,” replacing the slogans that have been on area buses the last year that read “No Fences,” and “Open Space. Open Minds.”