Meeting & Agendas

Motion for approval by Jason Sanchez. Second by Matt Figg. Unanimous approval by committee.

As of today, for spring 2021 headcount is down 4.6% and contact hours are down 2.9% compared to last year. Continuing students are down 3.2%. Traditional new student enrollment is down by 10.8% and high school down 3.5%. National trends have online school enrollment doing well and community colleges are seeing a double digit loss. High school programs have been impacted by many Austin area high schools either not having program enrollment or seeing a drastic drop in enrollment. Typically high school dual credit sees a drop in enrollment with seniors opting out of classes for spring semester to have off period flexibility. Testing needs and pandemic concerns are greatly impacting high school program enrollment. DMCAT and Art/Digital media departments are seeing a decline while health sciences have an increase in numbers. 12 and 8 week sessions are still on the horizon to gain enrollments.

*CE - seeing appointments made, but people not showing up. Directing possible ESOL students directly to ESOL for assistance. *TRAD/Credit - open, but only saw 1 student for the first week. Looking to promote and get the word out. *AE - DACA rule change has greatly increased interest and enrollment questions. Large increase in need and support.

The committee started work on new student recruitment in June 2020 and will continue through this year. Retention focus will start in the fall planning stage. 7 Strategies were presented by Dr. Buchanan to the board of trustees to support the chancellors 2030 enrollment number goal of 85,000. 1- hire outside consultant to survey enrollment process 2- Survey students that did not matriculate 3- Fast Track enrolment and recruitment 4- Welcome center 5- New software support systems - CRM, Mogli, Salesforce, etc 6- Financial Aid outreach and support 7- Orientation and advising model to provide concierge service to support students. Historically, after an economic crisis, community college enrollment will grow about 18 months from the onset of the event. This one could be different in the fact that the pandemic is not over and seeing a prolonging economic impact on the community. The current strategies are in constant review and being updated as outcomes are witnessed.

*AE - had compatibility issues with Apple machines. Working the errors out as we go. *Dual Credit/High School - having a few little programming problems: page 3 will not save, country/citizen glitch. Overall, going well and working through issues. *CE - goes live February 15. Ongoing training of staff. Working with Workforce Solutions to prepare for launch. Looping ESOL into applicants as the need arises. Not a box to actually check, but is available to capture in comments. *TRAD - plans to go live February 15. Have some concerns with backlogs not fixed yet. *Errors/Backlogs - Looking to include ESOL as a backlog item include some sort of button or option to click for ESOL assistance. Had issues with Safari browser, but needed users to turn off tracking in the phone and it would work. Also, looking to rework and change the error message that auto populates in the system: (contact your recruiter.)

*CRRSA fund distribution started on Monday. As of today, $3.5 million of the $16 million have been dispersed. Almost 4000 applications have been received. 2700 have been reviewed and 2200 have been awarded assistance. These funds have less restrictions than the CARES funds did. They do not require Title IV eligibility and can be used for tuition. *CARES funds ended on December 31, 2020, with a total of $6.9 million being dispersed to students. *HSI (Hispanic Serving Institution) funds are being dispersed. *Reskilling $300,000 last dollar funds are also being disbursed to students who have stopped out for at least a long semester and want to come back to complete a one year degree or certificate program in 2021. Not eligible to anyone who already has a bachelor degree. It can be used to wrap up an associate degree within 2021.

Tabled to next meeting.

A. Reorganization of various divisions in Student Affairs. Enrollment Management is gaining some staff with Karen Serna's team joining Student Assistance. Increasing outreach initiatives for financial aid. Enrollment Services team being split and joining the Admissions and Records team and the Recruitment Services team. Admissions and Records are creating a regional director model with Patty Behr moving to one of those new positions. This move of team members will support the new ERP, increase outreach. and enhance student support with entry advisors and orientations. B. VA withdrawal payment changes (Chapter 33) from the federal government. Payments due upon withdrawal will now be due to ACC instead of the VA. So any veteran that is thinking about withdrawing, really needs to speak to a VA specialist advisor first. Business offices are also concerned with this new process. C. New 2021-22 Academic calendar is almost complete. The draft will be out for review very soon. Need to set registration start and stop dates for semesters.

Adjourned at 3pm.