ENROLLMENT PLANNING TEAM

MINUTES

October 10, 2007

2:00 PM               Ruth Patrick Cafeteria

Present:  Mr. Andrew Hendrix, Mr. Corey Feraldi, Mr. Deri Wills, Mrs. Gail Ratchford, Ms. Gwen Ashley, Mr. Mike Lemons, Mr. Randy Duckett, Mr. Randy Warrick, Ms. Stephanie Foote, Dr. Suzanne Ozment, Mr. Tim Hall, Dr. Tom Mack, Mr. Tony Ateca, Mrs. Vivian Grice

Guest:  Mr. Tim Bond, Mr. Kelvin Rachell

Program Updates

New housing facility update – Mr. Tony Ateca

• The new freshmen housing facility is ahead of schedule and within budget.
• The completion date may be as early as April.
• They are now in the process of studying where a sidewalk should be placed for the students living in this facility.
• Jeff Jenik and Deri Wills are ordering the furnishings, so that when completed the facility can start being utilized.
• Discussions are taking place regarding some type of food service (something like an Einstein’s) in the facility.

Convocation Center Crossing update – Mr. Tony Ateca

• Dr. Hallman and Tony just met with the DOT today about the possibility of a stop light at the Convocation Center, but at this time there is no plan for one.
• They are taking minor steps to add signs and a painted crosswalk to get to the center and we did get permission to add lighting (at our expense) for night games.
• There have also been discussions regarding a shuttle service for nighttime activities.
• A future bridge project for the future would cost the university $3 million dollars.

Other items of the CHAT – Mr. Tony Ateca

• The CHAT is also summarizing other needs in other areas across the campus, because with more students living in housing there would be a need for more staffing and a work area would have to be provided for them.

Freshman Cohort – Mr. Randy Duckett

• Randy presented a handout with the 2006-07 Freshman Cohort final report with the only noticeable trend being that we had a much larger number of students transferring to Columbia.  A total of 67% of the cohort was retained.
• Randy also shared the Student Body withdrawal report.
• Randy gave an update on the recommendations from the Freshman Action Team and the Financial Aid and Scholarship Action team which were unanimously endorsed by the Enrollment Planning Team during our June meeting.  
  • Freshman Action Team Recommendation:

He stated that he presented the recommendation of $287,000 to the Campus Budget (CBC) committee accompanied by a plan (call it phase I) that would cost $50,000 for the first year, which would target our intended group of scholarship students within specified high schools across the state of SC. (Geographic based scholarships for incoming freshmen called University Achievement Scholarships.)  The CBC agreed to this proposal and has placed this request in the base budget as a recurring item. (A handout outlining the proposal was distributed to members present.) Randy will request the additional amount during the Program Review process.

Financial Aid Scholarship Action Team Recommendation:

o       This Action Team and the EPT had requested $88,000 to fund a need based scholarship initiative aimed at students who have an Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) between $2,000 and $6,000 and PGPA or GPA between 2.4 and 2.99 (other details are outlined on the proposal).  The Action Team had requested funds to be available for the Fall of ’08 to ensure appropriate timing to identify and make awards which would not require recalculation of award packages.   Prior to this recommendation being endorsed by EPT at our June ’07 meeting, the Campus Budget Committee had earmarked $50,000 for the ‘07 year for need based aid.  The budget however is contingent upon enrollment in the Fall ’07.  Since awards are made in the Spring the $50K allotted by the CBC could not be made to those identified by the Financial Aid Action Team. The $50K was awarded to the most needy students for a one year as a Pacer Grant.  Since this money is now a part of the base budget, Randy stated that he anticipates that it will be used for what the FASAT had recommended for the term.  This leaves a short fall of $38K which Randy will request in the Program Review process.

Research Updates 

Randy asked that everyone please review the State Accountability Report for 2006-2007 before our meeting on November 14^th.  The report can be found on the Institutional Effectiveness Home page under Assessment then click on “State Accountability Reports” (http://ie.usca.edu/assessment/AccountabilityReports/index.htm).

Action Team Reports

Students at Risk Action Team – Ms. Stephanie Foote

Stephanie said that the SAR will have a recommendation in November regarding the students on probation and requiring them to participate in the “Pacer Success Program”.

Minority Students Action Team – Randy Duckett

Randy discussed College Summit’s visit to campus and that the Minority Students Action Team will be making a recommendation regarding this initiative at our next meeting.  It would involve using our campus for a two week period, providing housing, food, and recreational and meeting space for the College Summit to help rising high school senior students from economically deprived backgrounds an opportunity to learn more about the importance of and guidance in continuing their education and how to conduct the college search process.

Announcements

Randy shared information about the Parent/Orientation webinar that was held October 9^th.

Stephanie Foote announced that there will be a NCATA conference for transfer students forthcoming at Midlands Tech and if anyone was interested to contact her for the details.

Other Issues

Andrew Hendrix stated that the New Student Orientation committee had made a recommendation and solicited campus wide input in regards to changing the dates and times of the orientation programs for next summer. This decision should be made at the next Orientation Planning Committee meeting.  Dr. Ozment stated that there was no objection from the Academic Council.  Vivian Grice stated that it would put the bulletin on a different timetable and Dr. Ozment said that we would have to coordinate the budget to meet this timetable.

Corey Feraldi said that the name for the Freshman Admission Action Team has changed to Admissions Action Team and they would be focusing on transfer students this year.

Tony Ateca expressed a concern about the food service for the summer with the issue of construction and the bid for a service provider pertaining to the summer orientation.

Meeting was adjourned at 3:00 pm

Respectfully submitted by:

Gail Ratchford