ENROLLMENT PLANNING TEAM
Minutes
MARCH 21, 2007
Present: Mr. Andrew Hendrix, Mr. Corey Feraldi, Dr. Deb Kladivko, Dr. Deidre Martin, Mr. Deri Wills, Dr. Ed Callen, Mrs. Gail Ratchford, Mr. Glenn Shumpert, Ms. Jennifer Lake, Mr. Randy Duckett, Mr. Randy Warrick, Ms. Stacie Williams, Ms. Stephanie Foote, Mr. Val Lumas
Not Present: Mr. Ahmed Samaha, Dr. Braden Hosch, Ms. Gwen Ashley, Mr. Marshall Davis, Dr. Suzanne Ozment, Dr. Tom Mack, Mr. Tony Ateca, Mrs. Vivian Grice
Randy Duckett called the meeting to order at 2:08 pm handing out a copy of the total withdrawals of students for Fall semesters from 2002 to 2006. Randy pointed out that this information could be found at http://registrar.sc.edu/html/rpts/eot_rpts.stm. Randy said that in reviewing the data other than Columbia, USCA had the lowest percentage of students who completely withdraw during Fall Semesters.
Dr. Deb Kladivko questioned the process of a student withdrawal and asked was there a contact when they find out a student is withdrawing. Randy stated that he is the contact person after the student has gone through the withdrawal process with the records office, he is notified and a letter is generated to the student. Stephanie Foote suggested that maybe we pull the advisor back into the process because they may be able to offer some insight.
Programmatic Updates
Financial Aid/Scholarship Report – Mr. Glenn Shumpert
Glenn presented the following information:
1) Financial Aid Wraparound – The wraparound is used for the paper process that includes great information. The majority of the filing for aid is completed on the web and eventually the Department of Education is thinking about doing away with the paper applications. This would block out a large portion of the Spanish population. A few points Glenn made:
Ø There is a 11-13% application volume increase per year
Ø 06/07 there are 4,987 on the database with four months to go, and will exceed over 5, 000 applications, with a total of $32-35 million awarded through the Financial Aid office.
2) USC Aiken Student Aid – More than $25 million received Financial Aid during 05/06 with the largest amount as $15.8 million in loans. Approximately 75% of our loan awards are through the Federal Stafford Program. 85% of our students receive some form of aid.
3) The next handout was USCA Institutional Scholarships that shows the award amounts by Majors and Status. The FASAT is looking closely at this to determine the need for more academic scholarships.
4) The fourth handout shows the Life and Hope Disbursements – not all Life and Hope students apply by FAFSA but some apply of other aid.
5) USCA LIFE Retention information – This handout shows that freshmen are least able to retain the LIFE compared to the upper class students. Dr. Callen stated that this indicated to him that more High School students received LIFE than should have.
6) The sixth handout was on “Loan Debt for Graduate and Undergraduate Students” – which shows the loan debt of these students with Federal Stafford only.
7) The last handout was the “Official Cohort Default Rate for 2001-2003 which Glenn stated that even though it looks good is doesn’t take into account the ways loans are paid off. For example a student can finance the loan for 30 years or do a loan consolidation whereas the student use to have to pay the loan off in 10 years or in some cases less.
In conclusion Glenn said that they really encourage the student use the Financial Aid web-site, that it contains very useful information.
Randy observed that based on the information provided by Mr. Shumpert that there was no doubt that Financial Aid has become even more complexed and confusing with the introduction of more Federal and State programs, as well as the increased number of students needing and applying for financial aid. He also thanked Mr. Shumpert and the FASAT Action Team for the work they continue to do.
FYE and Academic Support – Ms. Stephanie Foote
Ms. Foote shared a PowerPoint presentation that can be found at http://www.usca.edu/ESIP/ept/ASCpresentation-2007.ppt along with a handout about the Academic Success and First Year Experience Programs and Initiatives. Four areas that she covered are listed below:
1) First-Year Reading Experience (FYRE) The Color of Water by James McBride has been chosen as the reading for the first-year students. This will give them a common intellectual experience with faculty, staff and other students. This program has received support from the Academy of Lifelong Learning.
2) First Pace Program is the summer program offered to students that are admitted as provisional. This year so far we have 12 students signed up for this summer.
3) Pacer Success is a program created by the Students At Risk Action Team for students that the grade point average falls below a 2.0. The program is designed to reach out to those students that need academic support.
4) Study Behavior Inventory (SBI) – this is a tool that will be used to help assess student study skills and helps identify areas of weakness.
Andrew Hendrix asked about the merger of Advisement with Academic Success. Stephanie stated it is becoming a new unit and it is exciting because they are usually working together on issues. The mission and goals will change but will have a great benefit to the student.
Action Teams
In the interest of time, Randy stated that the Action Team report for Freshman Admissions would be deferred and will have an opportunity to make a report at the April meeting.
He stated that Dr. Hosch had developed an enrollment model, presented it to SEP (Strategic Enrollment Planning) Action Team which has begun discussions regarding possible enrollment scenarios for the campus. As these discussions continue a presentation will be made to EPT for discussion and recommendations.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:25.
Respectfully submitted by Gail Ratchford