ENROLLMENT PLANNING TEAM
MINUTES
NOVEMBER 8, 2006
2:00 PM PENLAND 110
Present: Ms. Gwen Ashley, Mr. Tony Ateca, Mr. Randy Duckett, Mr. Corey Feraldi, Ms. Stephanie Foote, Ms. Vivian Grice, Mr. Andrew Hendrix, Dr. Braden Hosch, Ms. Jennifer Lake, Dr. Tom Mack, Dr. Deidre Martin, Ms. Gail Ratchford, Mr. Ahmed Samaha, Ms. Stacie Williams, Mr. Deri Wills
Guest: Ms. Maria Chandler
The meeting began at 2:05 pm with Randy Duckett stating that we had a full agenda and would start with the Retention Review by Dr. Braden Hosch.
Programmatic Updates
Dr. Braden Hosch presented a PowerPoint on the USCA retention update on the Full-Time, First Year Cohort (i.e. entering freshmen). Several finds:
Ø One year retention rates of freshmen rebounded from 60.4% entering in Fall 2004 to 66.9% for those entering in Fall 2005.
Ø USCA’s retention rate remains below those in the CSRDE peer group.
Ø In 7 out of the last 9 years, when the cohort size increased, the retention rate declined, and vice versa.
Ø Retention of white men also rebounded between 2004-05 and 2005-06, however they continue to have the lowest retention rate among major demographic groups.
Ø First semester GPA was again found to be highly predictive of retention rates, and the overall pattern of retention by first semester GPA from 2002 through 2005 in regards to the 1st semester GPA is the same.
Ø Academic success is the key to retention, although it is important to remember that grade point average (GPA) is indicative of factors beyond academic skill.
Randy Duckett added that after hearing this information, the EPT has a responsibility to identify and work according to these findings. He also asked that questions be e-mailed to Dr. Hosch or him.
Dr. Hosch asked that we share this information to our staff so the campus will become familiar with the findings. Meeting materials on this report can be found at http://www.usca.edu/ESIP/ept/Minutes/index.html.
Andrew Hendrix started his annual report by giving us an update on the activities in the Admissions office and expressing his gratitude to his staff for all their hard work. Andrew gave us a handout as he shared the new focus on recruitment and admissions. The report can be found at http://www.usca.edu/ESIP/ept/Minutes/index.html under meeting materials.
Listed below are highlights of his report.
Ø The admissions office is implementing new and different approaches to the recruitment of freshmen.
Ø The staff is using a more aggressive approach to reach the students USCA desires to attract.
Ø One important key is the new counselor territory management system that has been implemented. The office has identified 12 S.C. counties as primary target areas for the recruitment of students. Three admission counselors cover different territories across the state.
Ø With this new territory management expanded travel is required for the counselors.
Ø The HS guidance counselors have been very receptive and are becoming more familiar with USCA.
Ø As a result of the Noel-Levitz consultant review the communication efforts to the prospective students needed improvement. Andrew has implemented a database in Microsoft Access which although it is working for the time being needs to be updated to a better recruitment information system in order to collect and monitor this data.
Ø Andrew stated that in order to recruit better qualified students you have to do a better job of communication and focusing efforts on these students. He echoed the primary recommendation of the Marketing/Admissions consultant that a CRM database system would be needed to move forward in that direction.
Dr. Deidre Martin said she was in support of the CRM, with her experience in the Advancement office where they use a Client Relationship Management system and it makes contacts richer and more personal.
Randy Duckett expressed that cost is a factor but this is one of our top priorities. Other universities are moving ahead because they are already using a CRM database system.
Randy Duckett distributed a handout of the recommendations made by Dr. Susan Campbell and asked that we read the information and look at the path forward. A full report can be found on the EPT web-site at http://www.usca.edu/ESIP/ept/discussions/index.html.
Research Updates
Dr. Braden Hosch shared a PowerPoint presentation with handouts on the NSSE (National Survey of Student Engagement) in which USCA participated in 2004 and 2006. The NSSE is used to measure institutional quality by the freshmen and senior students. Several key points that Dr. Hosch made:
Ø The response rate for 2006 was 59%, almost double that of the 32% response rate in 2004; across-the-board improvement in most areas may be a result of a broader survey population.
Ø USCA students reported higher levels of personal and educational growth than did their national peers.
Ø The students here at USCA (especially seniors) read less, write less and spend less time on academic work than other institutions, suggesting that seniors leaving USCA may not have as many skills as those graduating from other institutions.
Ø Overall findings may suggest that USCA students come to us less prepared than students nation-wide, but first-year students experience a more challenging and engaging environment at USCA than do their national peers.
Meeting material on this report can be found at http://www.usca.edu/ESIP/ept/Minutes/index.html.
Randy presented the Freshman Cohort Tracking Initiative report and would like for everyone to read. It starts with the procedures that were followed and ends with the Year End Report and Chart that was used to summarize the findings. He thanked Gail Ratchford for her work on developing the procedures and guiding our student coordinator.
At our next meeting on December 13, 2006 Randy will review some of the main highlights of the report.
At this time Randy concluded the meeting and stated that we were out of time and asked that Dr. Deidre Martin wait until the December meeting to give her Action Team update.
Meeting was adjourned at 3:25 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Gail Ratchford