1. Learn vs. Churn Balancing Access, Enrollment, and Student Success AACRAO SEM 2012 November 6, 2012

2.  Sylvia Littlejohn, Director of Enrollment Services  Diane Carr, Associate Vice President for Arts and Sciences

3. 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

4.  Providing Access  Managing Enrollment  Ensuring Student Success

6.  State funding cuts, leading to tuition increases  Enrollment surges  Capacity  Changing Paradigm  Completion agenda

7.  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

8.  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

9.  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

10.  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

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

12.  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

13. 1. Analyzed the enrollment funnel 2. Identified bottlenecks in the enrollment funnel 3. Found biggest bottleneck caused by students coming late in the process 4. Estimated cost to accommodate students when they come late 5. Identified current resources to share

14.  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

15.  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

16.  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

17.  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

18.  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

19.  Used staggered registration to improve efficiency of course search and registration  Avoided mistakes and later complaints by stopping automatic web registration for new students

20.  Identified peak advising times and hired part-time advisors  Created RFP for marketing consultant – final report supported many of EMC’s recommendations

21.  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

22.  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

23.  We serve different enrollment gods based on area of college  Heads vs. seats  Processing students vs. engaging students

24.  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

25.  Greater understanding of Student Financial Aid  Enrollment verification  Deadlines  Impact of Ws and GPA  Impact of lack of success (especially since July 1, 2012)

26.  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

27.  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

28.  Providing sufficient course sections  Faculty  Classroom and lab space  Time to review and reflect on the big picture

29.  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

30.  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

31.  Sylvia Littlejohn Director of Enrollment Services littlejohns@midlandstech.edu (803) 738-7764  Diane Carr Associate Vice President for Arts and Sciences carrd@midlandstech.edu (803) 822-3599