1 / 37

Community College at a Crossroads

Community College at a Crossroads. Staying True While Serving New Audiences. Chattanooga State Community College . Founded 1965 Rooted in its technical school heritage Technical Certificates, GEDs, Associate Degrees From Diesel Mechanics to Nursing to pre-Education

kezia
Download Presentation

Community College at a Crossroads

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Community College at a Crossroads Staying True While Serving New Audiences

  2. Chattanooga State Community College • Founded 1965 • Rooted in its technical school heritage • Technical Certificates, GEDs, Associate Degrees • From Diesel Mechanics to Nursing to pre-Education • Dominates its ‘trading area” • 13,000 students

  3. “community’ college means ... • Open admissions • Serving diverse audiences • High School grads • Adults • Business community • Affordable • Convenient • Accredited • State funded

  4. The Situation

  5. Tremendous growth

  6. growth Driven by... • Weak economy • Adults retooling, seeking new skills • Families looking for more affordable path to college degree • Strong programs and new partnerships • Volkswagen Academy • Nursing and Allied Health • Two Plus Two • E-learning BA degree

  7. State Changes Funding FORMULA • Pre-2010: Funding based on number enrolled • Strategy: Attract more students • Open ‘front door’

  8. State Changes Funding FORMULA • 2010 and beyond: Funding based on number who graduate • Strategy: Attract, retain, and graduate more students

  9. Chatt State at a crossroads: growthMust be targeted • “Growth must be targeted to specific segments, not just overall”. • Dr. Jim Catanzaro, President, October, 2010.

  10. Crossroads – Need answers before moving on The strategic challenges defined the questions • Tremendous growth • Some programs at capacity • Nursing, health-related • New programs working • New funding formula: retention • Who? • How? • What? • Why?

  11. The Research Approach

  12. objectives • Assess overall awareness, attitudes and perceptions among constituent groups about Chattanooga State • Explore the decision-making process • Explore the strengths and weaknesses of its communications • Advertising • Website • Learn about the e-learning program • Dig into the root causes of retention

  13. We identified all constituencies • Prospects: • HS • Adults Online Prospects High School Counselors Current Students Online Current Online Drop-outs Graduates

  14. WE organized Them into Related Groups • Prospects: • HS • Adults High School Counselors Online Prospects Current Students Current Online Online Drop-outs Graduates

  15. We Selected a methodology to Match the groups Focus Groups Online Bulletin Board 1-on-1’s • Prospects: • HS • Adults Online Prospects High School Counselors Online Drop-outs Current Students Current Online Graduates

  16. The Qualitative Informedthe Quantitative QUAL QUANT Questionnaire D-Guide

  17. Key Findings

  18. Personification exercise ““If Chatt State were a retail chain, it would be most like _________”

  19. Chatt State Delivers on What Matters

  20. Chatt State has many positive brand equities • Jobs and careers • Hands-on learning • Faculty: • Cares • Real world experience • Mentors • Good reputation in the community • Networking

  21. ‘Brand’ Chatt State has some liabilities • “The 13th Grade” • Crowded • Parking • Lenient admissions • Too easy classes • Faculty • Registration, Financial Aid – not working • Low status • Advisor program

  22. Awareness of programs with growth potential was low High Health (Nursing) Business; Sciences Growth Potential Low High Awareness

  23. The advertising campaign was approaching wearout • High awareness • “Cheesy,”“not real” • Confusion around the“Ask Joe” phrase • Ads with call-to-action work

  24. The website scored high marks • Well-received • Prospective students want the facts - quickly • Challenge: lots of info • Opportunities to improve e-mail functionality • Some helpful features had low awareness

  25. research confirms barriers to retention: “Life gets in the way.” • Work • Family • Financial issues • Course work overload

  26. THERE ARE many Resources to help retain students... • Caring, helpful, engaged professors • Study resources: • Reading lab • Math lab • Tutoring • Advisors ... BUT THEY HAVE LOW UTILIZATION

  27. E-learning driven by convenience and flexibility • Convenience and flexibility drive online enrollment • Organized self-starters more likely to succeed • Certain subjects better-suited for online • E-learning would benefit from a stand alone, consumer-focused website

  28. E-learning’s growth potential is among current students • Current students highly satisfied with online classes • Non-Chatt State online students not really interested in Chatt State

  29. What’s Next?

  30. insights driving a new planning process

  31. insights driving a new strategic plan • Promote programs with low awareness, capacity, and potential for growth • Engineering Technology • Sciences • 2 Plus 2 program: Center for Education & Human Services

  32. The “Ask Joe” campaign gets new messages • ‘Ask Joe’ messages to communicate many positive brand equities, such as: • Real life success stories of graduates • Affordability • Distinguished faculty • Hands-on learning, small classes • Accreditation

  33. “Ask Joe” messages tailored to specific audiences High School “2 Yrs. and get a job” High School “2 Yrs. and get a job” High School “Prepare for Bachelors Degree”

  34. Communications will utilize more diverse media • Explore new media • Social media • Public relations: ‘free media”

  35. Student retention requires new approaches • New strategies: • Increase awareness of resources • Improve effectiveness of resources • Blue sky: • Identify at-risk students early on • Develop new resources for at-risk students

  36. Through the Crossroads with a new approach Old New • Little data • Broad target and messages • Enrollment • Nursing, Health Related • Data • Targeted messages • Retention • Sciences, Engineering

  37. Thank You

More Related