Learn vs. Churn

Balancing Access, Enrollment, and Student Success

AACRAO SEM 2012November 6, 2012

Sylvia Littlejohn, Director of Enrollment Services

Diane Carr, Associate Vice President for Arts and Sciences

• Located in the midlands of South Carolina around the state capitol• Serves 3 counties

• 18,000+ credit students annually

• 30,000+ corporate and continuing

education students annually

• 100+ programs of study

• 1/3 of area high school graduates attending college first enroll at MTC

• $82 million operating budget

• 6 campuses

• Fifth largest college in South Carolina

• SACS re-accreditation – 0 recommendations

• 97% employers satisfied with MTC grads

• 90+% performance on licensure exams

Midlands Technical College

Providing Access

Managing Enrollment

Ensuring Student Success

State funding cuts, leading to tuition increases

Enrollment surges

Capacity

Changing Paradigm

Completion agenda

Enrollment deadlines set but not enforced

Always open for business

Large number of students who come late in the enrollment process

Need to accommodate late students with same level of service and class availability

College increasingly reliant on tuition dollars because of decreasing public funding

Competition from for-profits with many start dates and no placement requirements

Limiting factors: classroom space, faculty, advisors

Last in, first out

Especially a problem leading up to Fall semester

Co-chairs: Director of Enrollment Services and Associate Vice President of Arts and Sciences

Academic department chairs, transfer advisor and pre-health sciences advisor

Director of New Student Orientation and Advising

Director of Student Financial Aid

Director of Information Technology

Staff Council and Faculty Council Chairs

Director of Auxiliary Services (includes bookstore)

Director of Cash Management Systems (Finance)

Faculty from Corporate and Continuing Education

Director of Student Assessment

Manager of Classroom Space

Researcher from Assessment, Research, and Planning

Director of Admissions

To foster a college wide approach to decision making and communications involving: budget, enrollment, retention , and student success.

Greater understanding across the college of what different areas do

Right people having the right conversations

Shared concern about delivering on our promise that students can come to the college at any time

1. Analyzed the enrollment funnel2. Identified bottlenecks in the

enrollment funnel3. Found biggest bottleneck caused by

students coming late in the process4. Estimated cost to accommodate

students when they come late5. Identified current resources to

share

Refocused on courting rather than processing

Gave smaller chunks of information Provided step-by-step processes Adopted new CRM Identified and communicated with

students who were pending purge for non-payment of tuition and fees

Enhanced features on student bill

Standardized advisement and publicized across college

Pushed course schedule out earlier

Created When to Call list

Started departmental advising earlier in some areas

Supported “mandatory” New Student Orientation

Surveyed students at Late Registration

Tracked students coming to Late Registration

Attempted to change the behavior of students habitually registering late with targeted communications and advisement

Recommended that college double the $75 Late fee and change it to a fine

Pushed deadlines across the college

Began hanging Registration banner throughout registration period rather than on Late Registration day

Created campaign encouraging students to check college email

Publicized April 15 priority deadline for Student Financial Aid

Publicized college’s guaranteed Financial Aid deadline

Studied allocation of classroom space

Reallocated space more equitably and efficiently

Monitored seats filled throughout registration period

Built schedules across departments to meet student needs

Communicated needs for additional course sections between New Student Advisement and academic departments

Used staggered registration to improve efficiency of course search and registration

Avoided mistakes and later complaints by stopping automatic web registration for new students

Identified peak advising times and hired part-time advisors

Created RFP for marketing consultant – final report supported many of EMC’s recommendations

Eliminated 14-week semester classes from online course search after Schedule Change

Showed number of seats left in sections rather than seats filled and section cap

Had students look at open sections before scheduling an advisement appointment

Decreased number of students at Late Registration

Decreased number of students purged for non-payment

Increased success of students attending New Student Orientation

Decreased classroom capacity issues on one campus

We serve different enrollment gods based on area of college

Heads vs. seats

Processing students vs. engaging students

Making decisions in isolation can make things harder for others in another department.

In the past, we have courted students until admissions, then processed them – very impersonal

Greater understanding of Student Financial Aid Enrollment verification

Deadlines

Impact of Ws and GPA

Impact of lack of success (especially since July 1, 2012)

Not every student should have every opportunity to take every course

Better (and different) advising for late students

Careful choice of courses and modes offered in short sessions

Careful screening of students for some online courses

Enrollment Deadline

Definition of Accessibility

High touch vs. convenience of students

Technology to better manage student needs

Advising increasing numbers of students with diverse needs

Providing sufficient course sections

Faculty

Classroom and lab space

Time to review and reflect on the big picture

Create expectation that students meet deadlines so we can better manage service to them

Clarify for students what is available late in the registration process

Increase college’s ability to attract qualified faculty

Explore possibility of Early Registration

Publicize campus with new classroom building

Use vacated space on older campus efficiently

Limited funds for refurbishing

Maximizing course sections

Expanded space for tutorial services

Opportunity for dental students to use mobile equipment

Opportunity to offer studio art classes on this campus

Sylvia LittlejohnDirector of Enrollment Serviceslittlejohns@midlandstech.edu(803) 738-7764

Diane CarrAssociate Vice President for Arts and Sciencescarrd@midlandstech.edu(803) 822-3599