STRATEGIC ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN Enrollment is Everybody s Job Responsibilty

Transcription

1 STRATEGIC ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN Enrollment is Everybody s Job Responsibilty DRAFT 6/15/2018

2 Oakton Community College Strategic Enrollment Management Plan DRAFT May 2018 Table of Contents Executive Summary p.2 Introduction p.3 SEM Guiding Principles, Framework, and Definition p.4 Alignment with Oakton s Mission, Vision and Strategic Plan p.5 SEM Charge and Brief History p.6 Current State Analysis p.7 Summary of Data Reviewed p.7 Strategic Enrollment Goals p.8 Strategic Enrollment Work Plan p.8 SEM Team Next Steps p.9 Appendix p.10 References p.10 1

3 Executive Summary [Summary of longer report to be written] 2

4 Introduction Fundamental to any successful enrollment management program is developing and implementing a college-wide Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Plan. The purpose of the SEM plan is to help the institution gain more control over future enrollment by developing the capacity to achieve enrollment goals through an aligned and comprehensive set of goals and strategies sharply focused on recruiting, retaining, and supporting students throughout their educational career. Inherent within a SEM plan are a set of clear and unambiguous goals (both short and long term). The goals are associated with strategies and action plans that, when working congruently with an institutional strategic plan and institutional priorities, lead to the achievement of enrollment, persistence, and completion goals. Planning requires institutional support and commitment from representatives throughout the college community who can take a disciplined approach to understanding an institution s current landscape, interpret data, identify critical enrollment trends and issues, make data-informed decisions, and recommend outcomes and strategies that can stabilize or increase enrollment. A well-conceived SEM plan is an organized tactical plan and communication tool that describes what the institution wants to achieve and how it will accomplish it. Strategic enrollment management has been in practice at four-year colleges and universities for decades. As most of these institutions have significant control over the type and number of students they admit (i.e. the student profile), these institutions also have greater influence on recruiting and admitting students that meet the successful student profile and leveraging academic programs to ensure the success of their students. However, for open-door and open-access institutions that accept all students and offer academic programs to meet the needs of all who attend, strategic enrollment management is a relatively new concept. Like many community colleges who find themselves in a more competitive marketplace and who are being asked to do more with less state funding, Oakton is perfectly positioned to implement a SEM plan. Implementing SEM is a cultural and paradigm shift. It is a strategic, innovative and execution oriented focus on recruitment, enrollment, persistence, and completion. Previously, departments and teams functioned more independently on goals and strategies. This SEM plan will be the first time Oakton Community College has organized college goals and strategies that support Oakton s mission and goals, advances our financial planning, and holistically focuses on the student experience. Now more than ever, it is imperative for the College to create a strategic process for enrolling and retaining students (until they meet their goals) so that enrollment can be projected, maintained, and increased by design instead of by chance. For the long term success of the College, enrollment stability must be and must remain a priority. SEM Guiding Principles, Framework, and Definition In building our SEM plan, the team used the following guiding principles, definition, and student experience framework. These concepts take into 3

5 consideration our institutional culture, our institutional priorities, and guide our institutional planning around enrollment management. Our SEM Guiding Principles are: Enrollment is everyone s business! SEM is an institution-wide priority and participation from across the institution is critical. Students, and their success, are at the core of what we do. SEM is synonymous with student success and is integrated into our strategic plan. All SEM activities are mission driven. SEM includes internal and external partners. Relevant data will be used to inform and assess decision-making, goalsetting, and tactical planning. SEM is part of the academic context and culture of the institution. SEM and enrollment goals should be established based on institutional capacity and infrastructure and service levels must be maintained and/or improved to meet student needs. Our Student Experience Framework, which guided how we looked at students journeys through the College, is from Completion by Design. This Loss/Momentum Framework identifies critical points in a student s life cycle where barriers that prohibit progression exist and provides an opportunity for educators to identify gaps, milestones, and strategies to support students momentum through these barriers. To further underscore the importance of the student experience, each step in the above framework is aligned with a broad issues category identified within the SEM Plan: Connection: Marketing and Visibility Connection & Entry: Comprehensive Recruitment Planning Entry & Progress: Enrollment and Academic Processes and Efficiencies Progress & Completion: Persistence and Student Success 4

6 Finally, the SEM team adopted a SEM Definition to maintain a point of reference and ensure our work remained central to the larger, institutional planning process. Strategic enrollment management (SEM) aligns an institution's fiscal, academic, co-curricular, and enrollment resources with its changing environment to accomplish the institution's mission and ensure the institution's long-term enrollment success and fiscal health. SEM includes: New student enrollment Continuing student persistence Marketing Financial assistance (federal, state, college, grants & awards) Completion, transfer and career preparedness Institutional programs, practices, and policies More than a long-term recruitment or retention plan Values driven and data-informed processes (Source: Ruffalo Noel Levitz) Alignment with Oakton s Mission, Vision and Strategic Plan The SEM Plan helps to fulfill Oakton s mission by providing access to quality education throughout a lifetime, we empower and transform our students in the diverse communities we serve. Our focus on students and our community is one of the team s guiding principles. The SEM Plan also supports multiple strategic goals and objectives from the College s Strategic Plan, Success Matters, including: Equity Matters: We will improve outcomes in key milestones for student success - developmental to college pathway, course success, retention, persistence, and completion - with a particular focus on addressing opportunity gaps to increase the success of all students. We will invest in equity-minded policies, practices, and behaviors that lead to success for all Oakton students from recruitment to goal attainment, with particular attention to students of color, first-generation college students, lowincome students, students with different abilities, international students, military-connected students, adult learners, LGBTQ students, religious minorities, and undocumented students. We will continue to promote the affordability of an Oakton education by seeking additional resources to support the cost of education for students and by developing more flexible ways to deliver financial aid. Teaching and Learning Matter: We will implement dynamic, collaborative processes to update and promote program offerings, program modalities, and course content in consideration of changing student needs as well as societal and labor trends. 5

7 We will expand our curricular pathways to promote timely and focused progress to completion. Community Matters: We will expand our partnerships with district schools by focusing on recruitment and outreach, dual credit, curriculum alignment, early placement, transfer and Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways, summer bridge programs, and early- and middle-college opportunities. Planning Matters: We will engage in greater institutional planning for the future effectiveness of the college with particular attention to departmental initiatives, strategic enrollment planning, master planning, and safety and security planning. We will improve communication and expand marketing activities to share the value of Oakton within the region. SEM Team Charge and Brief History The Division of Student Affairs collectively audited enrollment activities in their areas between This early work helped lay a foundation for further enrollment planning. At the conclusion of this initial work, Dr. Joianne Smith (President) and Dr. Karl Brooks (Vice President for Student Affairs), with support from President s Council, convened a team of faculty, staff, and administrators to begin the College s formal enrollment planning activities. In August 2017, the first SEM Team meeting was held with subsequent meetings facilitated on a monthly basis. (Appendix A) The charge of the SEM Team is to develop a strategic enrollment management plan grounded in data and best practices. This plan will align with Oakton s strategic plan and recruitment, retention, and completion initiatives. The team will: develop enrollment targets, shape marketing, communication, recruitment & retention strategies to support enrollment goals, and monitor progress towards these goals. During , SEM Team members presented to the Board of Trustees, faculty, and staff to communicate the status of enrollment and enrollment planning. (Appendix B) Current State Analysis Given the depth of information available, the SEM team selected the following data highlights and enrollment landscape observations as key items for review by the general campus community. Enrollment is declining and has declined every year for the past six years. Fall 2013 enrollment reached 10,326 students. In 2017, fall enrollment was 8,348 students, a decline of 19.15%. In this same period, there was a 6

8 16.27% decline in community college enrollment statewide (Source: Illinois Community College Board). Oakton credit hours has declined 16.85% between 2013 and High school graduates have been decreasing and will continue to decrease in IL by 2.8% by 2023 (Source: Ruffalo Noel-Levitz). Illinois has the 2nd worst outmigration in the US (Source: Center for Tax and Budget Accountability). Illinois unemployment rates fell from 10.4% in 2013 to 4.7% in 2017 (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). State investment and support has declined (nearly $1.4 billion dollars from ), funding has been inconsistent ( budget impasse), and state aid (i.e. MAP Grants) hasn t kept up with increases in tuition and fees (Source: Center for Tax and Budget Accountability). Competition for our high school market share is increasing. The Illinois Board of Higher Education reported a 57% increase in out-of-state enrollment between 2002 and In 2002, 29% of Illinois seniors enrolled in an out-of-state school; in 2016, the percentage rose to 46% (Source: Illinois Board of Higher Education). Number of students and credit hours effect the college s ability to meet goals and plan for financial stability. Tuition revenue is a critical piece of funding for the college and reviewing and responding to enrollment patterns, processes, and goals are crucial to the college s future success. Summary of Data Reviewed The SEM team spent the fall 2017 reviewing Oakton data regarding enrollment, marketing, persistence and completion. Much of the data reviewed sparked questions for additional data. The issues that will be identified later in this document are supported by the data. Appendix C lists the data and reports the SEM Team reviewed. Strategic Enrollment Goals [in development] The SEM Team developed four major goals based on our framework as described below. 1) Connection: Marketing and Visibility Initial goal: Conduct market research and internal audit leading to comprehensive enrollment marketing campaign planning and execution, focusing on targeted outreach to high-potential audiences. Launch first campaign targeting prospective high school and returning-adult student markets in spring Aspirational goals: Continue with campaign sequence in summer and fall 2020, seek increase in measurable outcomes such as ad click-through, 7

9 website visits, inquiries, applications, enrollment, and community survey responses regarding perception and relevance. 2) Connection & Entry: Comprehensive Recruitment Planning Initial goal: Halt declining enrollment by increasing fall new student enrollment by 2% every year until This will bring our fall new student enrollments from 2,396 in fall 2017 to 2,500 in fall Aspirational goals: Increase course offerings in disciplines where limited seats exists or in disciplines that support programs of study that either generate enrollment or where we know consistent enrollment exists (e.g. BIO which is necessary for many of our health career programs) and increase enrollment in career programs that demonstrate significant levels of job opportunities within regional and statewide marketplaces. 3) Entry & Progress: Enrollment and Academic Processes and Efficiencies Initial goal: Increase fall to fall persistence rates to 54% by 2023: The College has already seen a 2% increase in persistence every year since This will bring our enrollment of continuing students from 5,625 in fall 2018 to 6,210 in fall Aspirational goals: Increase persistence of students in specific programs of study (as mentioned in goal 2) and increase persistence of students of color, first-generation students, and low-income students to begin decreasing achievement gaps between student cohorts. Successful completion of goals 2 and 3 will bring our overall student enrollment from 7,889 in fall 2018 to 8,710 in fall ) Progress & Completion: Persistence and Student Success Initial goal: Increase the percentage of first-time full-time degree- and certificate- seeking students who complete a degree or certificate or who transfer to a public or private four-year institution within three years from 47.21% in 2015 to 54% by Aspirational goals: Increase degrees and certificates awarded in programs mentioned above and increase transfer to 4-year institutions in which Oakton has 2+2 and dual and guaranteed admission agreements or where our students would be advantaged by transferring with an Oakton degree or certificate. 8

10 Strategic Enrollment Work Plan [in development] Appendix D provides the Issues, Strategies, & Goals developed by the SEM Team. Activities that are in process or can begin immediately are listed at the beginning of the plan. The remainder of the activities are listed based on our framework. [We plan to expand the grid to include Outcomes, Responsibilities, Timeline, Resources required, and Assessment.] SEM Team Next Steps The SEM Team will meet once during the summer and begin monthly meetings again in fall Members of the SEM Team will share the draft plan with the college community and solicit feedback during this time. We anticipate making the final SEM Plan public in Spring We will begin initiating and monitoring the SEM Plan strategies in fall 2018 and request future resources in the FY20 budget. 9

11 Appendix A. July 2017 invitation to join SEM Team (includes list of SEM Team members) B. Power point presentations to Board of Trustees, faculty & staff; SEM and Persistence Institutional Strategic Priority Handout C. SEM Team Summary of Data Reviewed D. Strategic Enrollment Work Plan as of 5/18/2018 (This is a work in progress and we expect to expand the plan after receiving feedback from stakeholders in the Oakton community.) References Ruffalo Noel Levitz ICCB Bureau of Labor Statistics National Center for Education Statistics nces.ed.gov/ SEM Guidebook: Henderson and Educational Policy Institute Fall Enrollment Report oakton.edu/resource/oir/research.htm 10