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Utilizing Waitlists to Increase Student Enrollment

Utilizing Waitlists to Increase Student Enrollment. Rebecca Mathern, Registrar Portland Community College. Details about PCC. Banner school 2-week drop period Payment is not due until the end of these 2 weeks Communication policy requires use of PCC email by students

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Utilizing Waitlists to Increase Student Enrollment

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  1. Utilizing Waitlists to Increase Student Enrollment Rebecca Mathern, Registrar Portland Community College

  2. Details about PCC • Banner school • 2-week drop period • Payment is not due until the end of these 2 weeks • Communication policy requires use of PCC email by students • About 100 programs (3 transfer degrees) • Students take many pre-requisite courses at PCC

  3. Portland Community College staff was charged with responding to several broad goals. • A call for more students to get the classes they need. • Improve the measurement of course offering needs for planning purposes. • Maximize enrollment and increase revenue.

  4. The Result? • The College’s Executive Cabinet asked that the college make an electronic waitlist system work so students could become enrolled in courses as spaces became available from other students dropping classes prior to the term starting.

  5. Project Management • Research, preparing and planning for project • Communication strategy about change • Technical implementation of new process

  6. Research, Preparing and Planning • Current problems • Where is the pain? • What would relieve the pain? • Team • Who needs to be involved? • Faculty department chairs, admin staff who create schedules, registration staff, technology department • Timeline for implementation

  7. Communication strategy about change • Early Buy-in and Involvement • Stakeholder event for brainstorming and process improvement development • Musts vs Don’ts • Needs vs Wants • Showstoppers • KISS approach • Simple sells • Who sells the project to the college community? • Stakeholders

  8. Technical Implementation • Simple modification to Banner baseline • Registration type • External programming • Electronic communication

  9. Rules for Waitlists • Waitlist FAQ • www.pcc.edu/registration/waitlist • Linked Courses (lecture/lab/recitation)

  10. Specific Waitlist Impact • Improved Access • Increased revenue and enrollment • Better Fill Ratio • More measured planning for modality, course need and time/location

  11. 1- Improved Access • Students no longer have to “work” for a spot- as soon as space becomes available in a class, it is now given to them. • Don’t make students (and departments) wait- fill the classes ASAP.

  12. 2- Increased Revenue and Enrollment • Enrollment goes up through better planning • Approximately 6000 students per term are added to classes from waitlists • Results equal increased revenue for the college

  13. 3- Better Fill Ratio • Maximize the classes that we do offer before offering more. • Five sections of 25 instead of eight sections of 15. • Faculty savings on 3 sections.

  14. 4- More measured planning for course need • College administrators and faculty can use waitlist indicators as planning tools for future terms and schedule planning. • Schedule planning, including hiring appropriate staff, could be better planned by using data rather than estimations on historical practice.

  15. 4- More measured planning for time and location • Learning about the registration behavior patterns and needs of students on a term-by-term basis allows the college to plan for future terms as well as the current term. • If time and space are available, changes can be made to the current schedule as the waitlists fill up and the course need grows/shrinks. • Learn which time slots are most popular.

  16. 4- More measured planning for modality • In-Person vs. Distance Education • They are both equally popular but for different types of courses. • Distance learning was a huge winner with the roll out of waitlists….to the point where we are being asked for more. • Adding new sections of distance learning is extremely easy.

  17. Project Updates- 2008 • Student and Faculty Feedback • Faculty are happy; after some tweaking • Students find waitlists simple; come to expect them • Reporting • Basic Banner reporting • Additional Brio reports available

  18. Project Update- 2010 • Linked courses • They still don’t work. • Banner 8.0 waitlist • What PCC didn’t do. • Distance Learning • How do we help this department with flexibility? • Waitlist size • Big, small or somewhere in-between?

  19. Questions? Rebecca Mathern, Registrar 971.722.7195 rmathern@pcc.edu www.pcc.edu/registration/waitlist

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