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NEWS FOR YOU FROM THE COLLEGES AND SYSTEM OFFICE
March 3, 2000

KCTCS BEGINS MAJOR ENROLLMENT INITIATIVE

A project that Dr. Mike McCall says is a key to KCTCS becoming the best two-year college system in the nation is now underway. The KCTCS President and more than 160 other members of the KCTCS family met in Lexington March 1-2 to learn about Enrollment Management, a program that will increase enrollment in our colleges.

The Enrollment Management Program (EMP) is a "vigorous planning" component of Dr. McCall’s R.S.V.P. (Responsive Solutions Through Vigorous Planning) Year 2000 initiative. It will focus on both enrolling new students, and retaining students already enrolled.

"EMP is not just a series of enrollment activities," Dr. McCall said, "but a comprehensive program that will involve all administrators, faculty and staff at each KCTCS campus, as well as administrators and staff in the System Office. The goal of our EMP effort is to increase our enrollment by 5,000 students by 2002, but I believe we can exceed that."

All KCTCS college presidents and directors attended the March 1-2 session and were accompanied by an enrollment team from each institution. They heard Dr. McCall emphasize that focusing on enrollment must be a major initiative if we are to take full advantage of the opportunities resulting from the creation of KCTCS.

Dr. McCall recently attended a meeting in Orlando during the latest space mission, and compared the rocket launch to the founding of our system.

"A rocket requires tremendous energy to get it moving, just as building KCTCS requires a lot of energy and effort," he said. "We’re also just lifting off and have a long way to go, but we’re looking toward the future, and the future of all those people we haven’t yet touched. That’s why increasing enrollment . . . giving more people the opportunities our system can provide . . . is so important."

Dr. McCall reminded the group that Kentucky has to enroll 80,000 more in higher education just to reach the national average, and said most of those new students will enroll in a KCTCS college.

"But it’s not just about enrollment, but also about making Kentucky economically viable," he said. "And the fall semester is just around the corner so, whatever we need to do to build enrollment, we need to do immediately."

Dr. McCall introduced representatives of Noel-Levitz, the workshop presenters.

"They’ve been around for a long time," he said, "and have been very successful in helping colleges in other states increase enrollment."

Dr. McCall also told the group that there is $7 million in the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) budget proposal that’s available as a reward for institutions that increase enrollment.

"My dad always told me to never leave any money on the table," Dr. McCall said, "and I don’t intend to."

"Just like that rocket, we’ve lifted off," Dr. McCall concluded. "If you think it’s been fast and furious before, you’d better hang on to your seats, folks!"

Presenters Share Enrollment Ideas

Here are some enrollment philosophy and ideas presented during the meeting.

Enrollment is not about numbers; it’s about educational opportunities.

Retention is linked to the quality of experience students have on your campus.

Retention is an institutional performance indicator . . . an indicator of the quality of your product.

Students enroll because they believe you can help them build a better future. Students stay in college because they recognize you’re helping them meet career goals.

What happens to students after they leave your college is what you have to sell.

Quality instruction and classes offered at convenient times are important to students.

Adults expect more from college.

Develop advertising that works. Focus on outcomes and benefits to students, not on institutional features and characteristics. We in education often use words that excite ourselves, but we shouldn’t pitch to the pitcher (the college), but pitch to the catcher (students).

Direct mail is a cost-effective means of prospecting for traditional-age students. It enables you to pinpoint targets and control the message.

Enrollment is a process, not a series of events. You should have an Enrollment Management Program in place so that every enrollment inquiry triggers a planned strategy.

More Ideas

Presenters also made these suggestions.

Understand what students need, and then do what’s necessary to provide those needs

For a successful Enrollment Management Program, you must mobilize the campus and involve everyone.

You should have an EMP task force with one person designated as chief enrollment officer.

Set goals and then have strategies to reach goals. Paths are not to be found, but made.

The number of inquiries is key. For example, if you want 500 students to enroll, you should have about 1,600 inquiries.

When prospective students call the school, they should speak to a real person, not a machine.

Offer classes when adults can attend.

We need the right message for inquiries, and should have different messages for high school and adult students.

Just don’t keep pace in your enrollment efforts, be a pace setter.

And a Few More…

These were some suggestions regarding student retention.

Most students will say they’re dropping out because of money, time or personal reasons, but there are often other issues.

Reasons students drop out include a poor relationship with their advisors, they’re afraid they can’t make passing grades, and don’t know what’s expected of them.

Colleges need to predict potential dropouts before they occur.

People often need help when in a new environment, such as college.

To reduce the number of dropouts, provide quality service that is based on what the student wants, exceeds the student’s expectations, ensures student satisfaction, reduces student frustration, and demonstrates that the student matters.

Colleges Report on Plans

Dr. Candace Gosnell, KCTCS vice president, promised the group that the System Office will provide leadership, services and support for the Enrollment Management Program, and said that EMP teams will be established at both the college and system levels.

At the end of the two-day session, each college’s team met to discuss ideas for an Enrollment Management Program and then reported to the entire group. Some of the ideas were:

student tracking, getting all faculty and staff to buy into the plan, using a one-stop shop to recruit and serve students, establish a comprehensive EM plan and select someone to lead the effort, in-house EMP training for all faculty and staff, develop a web site as part of the EMP effort, provide more weekend and night classes to serve adults, emphasize program outcomes,and establish stronger links with secondary education.

Another EMP meeting is planned for March 23.

AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS OF FEBRUARY 28 PRESIDENT’S CABINET MEETING

Most of the February 28 meeting of the President’s Cabinet dealt with follow-up tasks related to the February Board of Regents meeting. The Cabinet also reviewed plans for the March 1-2 presidents/directors meeting.

The first meeting of the President’s Council will be held March 17.

NEWS FROM THE COLLEGES

Emline Montgomery will serve as Division Chair for the Business and Related Education Programs at Hazard Technical College, Phyllis Morris will serve as Division Chair for Health Technologies, and Ralph Kidd will serve as Division Chair for industrial and Manufacturing Technology.