1. 1 AACRAO Consulting Services Strategic Enrollment Management Consultation Linn State Technical College Consulting Report April 9-10, 2007

2. 2 Consultation Summary ACS Consultants Clayton Smith and Wendy Kilgore conducted a consulting visit to Linn State Technical College (LSTC) on April 8-10, 2007 to review student recruitment and admissions functions, and make recommendations to support the institution-wide strategic enrollment management agenda. This is the first of three planned visits to LSTC to enhance enrollment management at the College.

3. 3 Project Goal  Maximize recruitment and marketing plans resulting in the enrollment and retention of students who are a fit for LSTC  Review current practices and report strengths and weaknesses leading to the development of new ideas  Work with College faculty and staff to identify strategies in: enrollment plan development admission process retention LSTC Request for Enrollment Management Consulting Services, 2006

4. 4 Visit 1 Focus Areas  Unique context and needs of LSTC  Recruitment strategies  Admissions process ACS Contract Addendum, December 7, 2006

5. 5 Desired Outcomes – Recruitment Strategies  Review marketing publications, advertising, website and related efforts  Explore ways to convert more inquiries into applicants, more applicants into enrollees, and more enrollees into graduates  Evaluate strategies to track students who inquire and apply but don’t enroll LSTC Request for Enrollment Management Consulting Services, 2006

6. 6 Desired Outcomes – Recruitment Strategies (Cont.)  Evaluate recruitment strategies (e.g., college fairs, high school visits, on-campus recruiting events, direct mail, email)  Determine how best to reach target market students and their key influencers (e.g., parents, counselors, teachers)  Evaluate the effectiveness of purchasing student names LSTC Request for Enrollment Management Consulting Services, 2006

7. 7 Desired Outcomes – Admissions Process  Evaluate services for students (e.g., application process, registration, orientation, advisement and online CARS services)  Determine appropriate entrance requirements (e.g., COMPASS/ACT, high school GPA/rank in class/attendance, mechanical aptitude tests, interviews, recommendation letters)  Explore the role of entrance testing LSTC Request for Enrollment Management Consulting Services, 2006

8. 8 Visit 1 Interviews  Cabinet & Enrollment Management Team  Information Technology staff  Recruiters & Admissions Counselor  Marketing Committee  Faculty Department Chairs  Student Leaders  Director of Admissions  Records Office staff  Financial Aid & Business Office staff  Dean & Associate Dean of Instruction

9. 9 General Observations  The College has plans to expand its enrollment from its current 900 level to 1,900, and 2,500 when the master plan is fully implemented. There are also plans to grow on-campus housing from 144 to 500 beds.  LSTC has not previously evaluated the effectiveness of its existing enrollment management practices in any comprehensive manner.  With the senior manager-led Enrollment Management Team and the cross-organizational Marketing and Intervention teams in place, LSTC is poised to implement an effective SEM program.  There is widespread interest and support for improving the outcomes associated with student recruitment and retention, especially if they result in functional and financial efficiencies that can be implemented in the short-term.  The campus appears interested in validating existing SEM activities as well as considering new approaches to enhance enrollment management.

10. 10 General Observations (Cont.)  The CARS student information system is not currently being used to its capacity to support enrollment management decision-making. Most of the key enrollment management professionals could benefit from greater use of CARS data. Currently data is used primarily for compliance reporting.  While the College has supported several accreditation initiatives, it has not recently conducted a program mix assessment to determine if it has the right set of academic programs to support its enrollment plans.  Faculty members feel overloaded with administrative tasks (e.g., recruitment, advising, registration, holds management) to the extent that they take away from their focus on teaching and learning.

11. 11 Recruitment Strategies  Review marketing publications, advertising, website and related efforts: Observations: – There is some inconsistency in brand identity. Recruitment materials do not create a clear brand identity. Moreover, there is a lack of clarity with regard to the College’s niche. – The recruitment presentation is too long, too detailed, and does not highlight the hands-on experience and short time frame of the program of study. One slide includes 19 bullets. Mention is made of student life only briefly and the presentation does not take advantage of the facility improvement and growth taking place on campus The focus on why “YOU” should choose LSTC is a little sales-like. – The recruitment video is static. Most shots are of white, male students in very serious poses with very few smiles. No student testimonials are included. It includes shots of near-empty classrooms and there is almost no mention of what jobs students acquire after graduation. – The marketing budget is relatively small given the Marketing Committee mandate and the enrollment challenges faced by the College

12. 12 Recruitment Strategies Observations (Cont.): – The IT staff are currently working on a campus portal, which should lead to greater access to and satisfaction with the College’s online student services. – The Marketing Committee uses effective mass-media advertising techniques to enhance awareness in the region. – The display table does not capture the interest of those passing by without previous interest in the College. – The guidance counselor kit provides some important materials; however, no catalog was included and the t-shirt was a medium (assumes all counselors are medium). – The personal brochure available from the Web site is impressive. While it does not have the look of a print-house published brochure, the fact that it is personal and available nearly immediately sends the message that Linn is the right place for students looking for a personal experience. It reinforces the need for all things that follow to be highly personalized.

13. 13 Recruitment Strategies Observations (Cont.): – The marketing poster for the PTA program includes a pull off information card that asks the prospect to call a telephone number or log on to a Web site. While this is to be lauded, it might also be helpful to include a postage-paid card. – While the Missouri map is part of the Linn logo, the location of LSTC is not highlighted on the map. – Some marketing materials mentioned items common to most institutions and already expected by students, such as email and cable television in residence halls.

14. 14 Recruitment Strategies Recommendations: – Create a specific brand image that emphasizes the institution’s market niche and use it across all recruitment and marketing materials. – Create a dynamic presentation and video highlighting the strengths of the College (e.g., hands-on, short time commitment), facilities growth and student life. – Track and thoroughly assess the recruitment effectiveness of all marketing budget items. – Include “portlets” for prospective and current students in the new campus portal. – While maintaining a minimal presence in the regional media, select more targeted ways to reach prospective students and their influencers (e.g., direct mail, e-mail marketing).

15. 15 Recruitment Strategies Recommendations (Cont.): – Increase efforts to promote institutional successes through a focused and continuous public relations campaign. – Improve the display table by adding full-panel pictures and develop a single “road” brochure to ensure that students get the right information. – Add a college catalog and an appropriate sized t-shirt to the guidance counselor kit. Or, consider eliminating the T-shirt and redirect the funds. – Lessen emphasis in marketing materials on items common to most institutions, such as email and cable television, and focus more attention on distinctive features. – Include a “text message” option in radio and television ads in conjunction with the Web and 800 number.

16. 16 Recruitment Strategies Recommendations (Cont.): – Convene cohort-specific (e.g., high school career center students) focus groups to learn more about the effectiveness of College marketing practices. For instance, test the themes “quality-experience-success,” “profitable employment,” “hands-on” and “two-years – you’re in and you’re out.” – Share the marketing campaign approaches with the campus community to ensure maximum buy-in. – Make the fonts used in the online personal brochure more consistent. Also include email addresses for contact information. – Replace the PTA marketing poster contact information card with a postage-paid reply card, which also includes the 800 number and Web site address. – Position the location of Linn when using the Missouri map in marketing materials so that it is clear where the College is located.

17. 17 Recruitment Strategies  Explore ways to convert more inquiries into applicants, more applicants into enrollees, and more enrollees into graduates: Observations: – The College does not currently use some common functions in the CARS system that would increase efficiencies in the recruitment function and student communication plans. – LSTC does not pull prospect data from FAFSA applicants who list Linn as a possible school but do not apply. – All recruiters are female. Normally, the background of recruiters mirror the students the institution is attempting to recruit. – One recruiter uses a tour checklist to make sure all required items are covered in the presentation. – An opportunity exists to better promote the availability of academic support as a way of increasing enrollment of first generation students.

18. 18 Recruitment Strategies Observations : – LSTC has a reputation for being a “little like high school” and administratively controlling, which could impact prospective student appeal. – The recruitment staff report a lack of knowledge of CARS. – The recruitment staff is spending so much time off-campus doing recruitment travel that it does not have enough time to enhance touch points with prospects and applicants, which are known to result in increased yield. – The amount of detailed knowledge of academic programs recruiters possess needs to be increased. – The IT staff, while strong in programming knowledge, appears to have limited functional knowledge of the enrollment areas. In order for it to be supportive of SEM, it will need to learn more about the specific needs of the enrollment areas. – The off-site programs do not feel supported by the main campus in a variety of areas, including student recruitment.

19. 19 Recruitment Strategies Recommendations: – Use the tickler and interest rating functions in CARS as a way to achieve efficiencies and increased tracking abilities. – Load data from FAFSA (students who indicate Linn as a possible school but do not apply) into the prospect file so that they can be sent recruitment communications. – Hire recruiters who are most like the students Linn is recruiting (e.g., male, female, minority). – Encourage recruiters to discontinue using a tour check list while conducting a tour and to commit tour details to memory so that their points flow naturally. – Put more emphasis on ARC in student recruitment using student testimonials. – Continue working to transition LSTC to a fully collegiate institution in order to remove the “high school” image. – Develop a summer bridge course in mathematics for students who test at a relatively low level in mathematics.

20. 20 Recruitment Strategies Recommendations (Cont.): – Provide customized training to recruiting staff on how to maximize use of CARS in recruitment. – Reduce recruitment time on the road and increase touch points in the recruitment cycle both to prospective students and applicants. Specifically, personal phone calls from the same recruiter on a regular set communication schedule to touch base about application process and timeline. Combine phone calls with follow- up e-mails or hard copy letters. – Provide the recruitment staff with comprehensive and frequent training on academic programs so that they are effective in responding to student and influencer questions. – Involve the IT staff in the functional enrollment areas so that they gain more knowledge of how increased automation might improve the effectiveness of these areas. This could include participation in recruitment activities or involvement with key enrollment committees or teams.

21. 21 Recruitment Strategies Recommendations (Cont.): – Assess on a continuous basis how to support the recruitment needs of the off-site programs.

22. 22 Recruitment Strategies  Evaluate strategies to track students who inquire and apply but don’t enroll: Observations: – The College does not survey current students to ask them why they chose LSTC. – The cohort function in CARS is not being used for following specific groups of students over time. – While the Admissions Office has a “referral” field in CARS, it is not sufficient for tracking all recruitment sources.

23. 23 Recruitment Strategies Recommendations : – Survey deposited students with an admitted student questionnaire to learn why they chose LSTC. – Begin using the CARS cohort field to track students in multiple groups of interest (e.g., first time/full-time, female, minority, adults). – Make more comprehensive use of the CARS referral field to ensure that all recruitment sources are monitored. – Begin using the tickler and interest rating functions in CARS.

24. 24 Recruitment Strategies  Evaluate recruitment strategies (e.g., college fairs, high school visits, on-campus recruiting events, direct mail, email): Observations: – The recruitment staff have large service areas. – Minimal use is made of current students to recruit new students. – Students with whom we spoke did not ever indicate speaking with a recruiter. – Target schools have not been surveyed to determine if Linn is meeting their recruitment needs. – Word-of-mouth is seen as one of the most important recruitment strategies. – The campus tour was very thorough, with enthusiasm for the College generated through strong campus knowledge. – The College assumes that the public knows that “Must See LSTC” is a visitation day; it was not obvious to us.

25. 25 Recruitment Strategies Observations (Cont.): – LSTC prospective students are well versed on the College’s programs and often have detailed questions. – High school visits have been used as a way of generating inquiries, when they should be used primarily as a way of yielding existing inquiries to applicants. – Limited use of business and industry relations is used in recruiting efforts.

26. 26 Recruitment Strategies Recommendations: – Make increased use of current students in the on-campus recruitment process and alumni in off-site recruitment. – Increase personal communications between the recruiters and prospective students – Survey targeted schools to determine if the College is meeting its recruitment needs and as a way of assessing recruiter performance. Results should be combined with yield data to adjust frequency of visits to each school. The survey should also find out if the message is resonating with counselors. – Provide the recruiters with faculty contact information that they can hand to prospects for detailed program-related questions.

27. 27 Recruitment Strategies Recommendations (Cont.): – Assess whether recruiter geographical territories are consistent with enrollment objectives. – Rename “Must See LSTC” so that the message is more clear that this is a prospective student campus visit event. – Improve preparation of recruiters so that they can answer detailed program-related questions posed by prospective students. – Convert the high school program from being inquiry generating to being both inquiry generating and application (from existing inquiries) generating. – Make use of retirees and alumni in college fair travel.

28. 28 Recruitment Strategies  Determine how best to reach target market students and their key influencers (e.g., parents, counselors, teachers): Observations : – The recruitment effort may not be targeted sufficiently to support recruitment efforts for under-enrolled programs. – The target markets for unique programs (e.g., PTA, Nuclear Technology) are dissimilar from the targets for most Linn programs. – Transfer evaluations of prior academic coursework are sometimes not completed on a recruitment timetable. – Linn struggles with who its target audiences should be and covers middle school students through high school seniors. – The Tech Prep program holds potential for enhancing relationships with high school teachers in related curricula areas. – Linn Facts and Figures Web page indicates that the average age of a first time freshman is 21, yet marketing seems to target mostly high school students.

29. 29 Recruitment Strategies Recommendations : – Determine who the influencers are for each program. – Survey the 20+ year old first-time freshmen to develop a marketing and recruitment plan for this population. – Given the average age of first-time freshman, consider establishing relationships with state employment offices to develop student prospects. – Support financially the programs that are recruited for outside of high school career centers (e.g., those offered at the Advanced technology Center in Mexico), whose target audience is not typically high school career center students. – Implement an out-of-state recruitment strategy focused on programs unique to LSTC in the region beyond Missouri. – Explore ways to reach university/college graduates who may be interested in post-graduate interest programs.

30. 30 Recruitment Strategies Recommendations (Cont.) : – Focus the recruitment effort on high school juniors and seniors and let the public relations/image effort reach those in grades 7-10. – Ask current students to identify the biggest influencers in their choosing Linn and target market those influencers. – Develop a plan for test marketing in new markets, including clear measures of success.

31. 31 Recruitment Strategies  Evaluate the effectiveness of purchasing student names: Observations : – The Admissions Office bought ACT prospective student names a few years back. Results were minimal. Recommendations: – Develop a robust direct mail initiative that includes both mail-outs and e-mail blasts as a way to generate inquiries early in the recruitment cycle. – Purchase names from a company that specializes in the collection of career-related student data. A good source for high school names is the National Research Center for College and University Admissions (NRCCUA) in Kansas City. They conduct career-related questionnaires during the sophomore and junior high school years. Career categories are appropriate for technical colleges. Other sources for career-related name purchases are also available.

32. 32 Recruitment Strategies  Other related topics: Observations: – A couple of attempts have been made to create an institutional data dashboard to monitor key performance indicators. – Contract training is on the increase at Linn, which creates spin-off student recruitment opportunities for regular college programming. – Tech Prep is an excellent way to reach the high school market at the program level. Linn has a developing program which should result in improved high school relations in the next few years. – The dual credit program (algebra) with Columbia Career Center should result in increased interest in Linn.

33. 33 Recruitment Strategies Observations : – IT tends to be reactive, rather than proactive, with regard to enrollment management initiatives. – Recruitment goals do not appear to be clearly developed. – If the College is to reach its goals to increase female enrollment, it will need to develop academic programs that will likely have more appeal for women. Benchmark other technical schools with a similar directive and see what programs appeal to women at those institutions. – The recruitment staff operate in a silo with only minimal contact with faculty members. – Opportunities exist for considerable growth in contract training, both locally and throughout the State. – There is interest in developing collaborative relationships with other post-secondary educational institutions in order to expand the enrollment base. – The goal of increasing minority student enrollment appears to be unattainable given campus and community attitudes regarding diversity.

34. 34 Recruitment Strategies Recommendations: – Develop an enrollment management data dashboard to assess performance on various enrollment-related KPI’s. – Conduct a bi-annual program mix review that examines opportunities for new program development that matches growing market demand. – Increase contract training in areas where there is an existing or developing regular college student market. – Focus recruitment efforts on regional high schools with dual credit programs. – Develop a proactive approach in IT related to enrollment management and look for ways to support SEM. – Develop and deliver curriculum for non-traditional and/or part-time students.

35. 35 Recruitment Strategies Recommendations (Cont.): – Develop clear student recruitment goals by program and student type. – Investigate opportunities for faculty members and recruitment staff to engage each other with the goal of enhancing relationships between the two groups and minimizing the silo effect. – Explore possible arrangements with other post-secondary educational institutions that could result in more students enrolling at LSTC. This might include transfer articulation agreements or joint/alternative delivery of existing or new programs.

36. 36 Admissions Process  Evaluate services for students (e.g., application process, registration, orientation, advisement and online CARS services): Observations: – Admissions process is complicated for an “open admissions” college. – Multiple program application deadlines may be confusing to prospective students. – Admissions staff are duplicating work by placing data in CARS and using paper to track the same data. – CARS is not being used effectively to increase efficiencies in processing and student communications. – The Admissions Office does not go back and contact students on program waitlists to determine if they are interested in future terms or non-impacted programs. – Online admissions is not being used because of a missing middle name field in CARS.

37. 37 Admissions Process Observations (Cont.): – Efficiencies are not being pursued by Admissions staff because of the need to keep up with daily work load. – No email contacts are on admission or recruitment letters. – Admissions staff feel a bit bogged down by being the only office to answer the 800 number for the College, while other staff indicated a degree of frustration in not being able to get through on the 800 number. – Students are not prepared for meeting college costs. – The Admissions Office sends out applicant incomplete letters on a monthly basis, as opposed to the more common bi-weekly schedule. – There has been considerable staff turn-over in the Admissions Office within the last few years.

38. 38 Admissions Process Observations (Cont.): – Faculty do registration for and with most students. At most institutions students register themselves with support from academic advisors. – Admissions Office equipment (e.g., computers, printers) may be out-dated. – The College moved away from block scheduling as a way of encouraging a wider student experience. There is no evidence that this outcome has been achieved. – Many students submit applications to popular programs, leaving a number of programs chronically under-enrolled. – While the College provides access for new students to College email accounts, they tend not to use these email accounts prior to arriving on campus. – The financial aid process is almost completely on-line, creating strong student self services and business process efficiencies.

39. 39 Admissions Process Observations (Cont.): – Decisions on the merit-based scholarship/tuition waivers are not made until the summer, long after the student has decided on which institution to attend. – The Records Office is not currently using the online registration function in CARS. Most institutions have moved as many services as possible to an online environment. – Business office staff cross-train and move to wherever they are needed. This is different from what we observed for the recruitment, admissions, registration and records staff. – The use of imaging, which is beginning in the Record’s Office, could result in increased efficiencies if employed in other enrollment and student affairs offices. – Opportunities exist to increase automation at key points in the enrollment cycle. – There is some interest in improving customer service throughout the campus.

40. 40 Admissions Process Recommendations: – Revisit and assess the purpose of having multiple program admissions requirements. – Consider setting a single program admission deadline. – Use CARS functions to streamline the student communication plans. – Discontinue duplication of electronic data entry on paper. – Cross-train recruiters and admissions counselors to spread the load of recruitment and application processing across more staff. – Re-contact students on the waitlists to determine if they might be interested in a future term. – Modify the CARS baseline to include the student’s middle name in order to take the admissions process online. – Add email contacts to all student letters.

41. 41 Admissions Process Recommendations (Cont.): – Assess the recruitment effectiveness of the 800 telephone system to determine what efficiencies might be implemented (e.g., random assignment queue). – Expand the part about paying for college at Orientation so that students are more prepared to meet their obligations upon enrollment. – Determine whether the equipment used in Admissions needs to be updated; if needed, replace out-of-date equipment. – Assess whether there are opportunities for document imaging beyond the Records Office areas. – Develop a rigorous training initiative in the Admissions Office to ensure that all staff are properly trained early in their employment with the College.

42. 42 Admissions Process Recommendations (Cont.): – Send incomplete admission letters on a bi-weekly basis. – Provide access to degree audit for students so that they can monitor their academic progress and be more prepared when they meet with faculty advisors. – Add a second choice major to the application so the Admissions Office can make deflected offers of admission to related programs when the student’s first choice program is full and the waiting list is at a maximum length. – Use existing prospective student emails until after the student is on campus.

43. 43 Admissions Process Recommendations (Cont.): – Move the decision time-table for scholarships/tuition waivers to the pre-May 1 period so that student enrollment can be leveraged. – Implement the online registration system for CARS and use block registration in combination with open registration for general education classes so students can register themselves. – Adopt a training methodology and an accountability system to enhance customer services at all student touch points.

44. 44 Admissions Process  Determine appropriate entrance requirements (e.g., COMPASS/ACT, high school GPA/rank in class/attendance, mechanical aptitude tests, interviews, recommendation letters): Observations : – There is no clear correlation between additional entrance requirements and success in programs. – Some of these requirements could hinder students from applying for admission or completing the application process. – There is a widespread misconception that entrance requirements predict likely graduation in two years, when entrance standards normally only correlate with first-year success.

45. 45 Admissions Process Recommendations : – Conduct an assessment to determine which entrance requirements connect with program success. Remove any requirements which do not connect with student success in the student’s first year at Linn. All admission requirements should be measurable with regard to student success. – Modify the definition of success to include more than the inputs provided during the admissions process, such as student-faculty engagement and achievement in academic coursework.

46. 46 Admissions Process  Explore the role of entrance testing: Observations : – The College requires entrance testing (ACT/COMPASS) while most 2-year colleges have no similar requirement, and some of the nation’s most selective 4-year colleges have made it optional. Further, the ACT assumes a traditional college preparation curriculum in high school, which many Linn students do not possess. Recommendations : – Determine the correlation between entrance testing (especially the ACT) and success in the student’s chosen program. It may be possible to remove this requirement for some programs.

47. 47 Admissions Process  Other related topics: Observations : – The College may be out of compliance with the Federal Educational Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) with regard to information release. For instance, the general release form does not have an opt out statement or clear instructions that the permissions can be revoked at any time. There appears to be considerable opportunity for improvement in FERPA compliance in most enrollment offices and in the academic departments. – Students who do not graduate from Linn generally lack college algebra and/or physics. This is often due to lack of preparation in high school.

48. 48 Admissions Process Recommendations : – Audit the institutional FERPA policy and the related release forms to make sure Linn is in compliance with both federal and state privacy statutes and policies. – Discontinue the practice of handing out the general release form at Orientation where parents are present. Students must sign the form without feeling any undue pressure from others. – Increase the amount of feedback provided to high schools with regard to math and science preparation so that more students enroll who are likely to complete the college algebra and physics general education requirements and graduate from Linn.

49. 49 Visit 2 (May 20-21) Focus Areas  Progress on recommendations  Student retention  Data mining ACS Contract Addendum, December 7, 2006

50. 50 Visit 3 Focus Areas  Progress on recommendations  Long-term enrollment planning  Organizational structure ACS Contract Addendum, December 7, 2006

51. 51 Respectfully submitted, Clayton Smith, Ed.D., Senior Consultant Wendy Kilgore, Ph.D., Consultant