Dear GHC community,

As of 3:30 pm on 1/22/15, our spring enrollment was at 5,207. This is only 21 students down from last spring’s official enrollment of 5,228. Although we are disappointed that we did not meet and exceed last spring’s enrollment, we can take some comfort in the fact that our enrollment could be far worse. In fact, we know of at least one institution unofficially reporting enrollment down 1,000+ students. This sounds like an extreme number, but we should be reminded that GHC started the first week of classes with approximately 700 students who still had a balance on their accounts and who were in jeopardy of losing their schedules by Wednesday. Our spring enrollment numbers at the moment could have been a lot closer to that of the unnamed institution had a number of GHC employees not done their part as retention and recruitment experts.

Thanks to the herculean efforts of faculty and staff we were able to reduce our total number of students dropped to 218 students. In three days, almost 700 students received automated and personal phone calls and/or announcements from faculty. I even heard reports of staff leaving handwritten notes for faculty to distribute in class to students who were unable to be reached by phone. GHC employees continue to reach out to students, and that is why we currently sit at 5,207. A special thanks to all employees who continue to impact student enrollment at GHC on a daily basis.

No doubt these numbers will continue to shift as faculty begin to report non-attendance next week. Our official enrollment will not be reported until the middle of the semester as required by the Board of Regents. Faculty, we ask for your continued support in taking attendance and even reaching out to students who are not showing up to class. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of posting the last date of attendance for students who stop attending class. These dates have huge implications on a student’s financial aid and can create debt for the institution if we do not record last date of attendance accurately.

In order to keep everyone informed of some of key recruitment and retention efforts, here are some highlights:

Recruitment:
• GHC implemented new recruitment software at the beginning of the fiscal year that automatically sends prospective students targeted and personal messages to their email accounts on a biweekly basis. Thus far almost 3,000 seniors and/or transfers have signed up to receive information from GHC, and over 2,000 have already applied. As you encounter prospective students, please encourage them to visit our Admissions website (www.highlands.edu/site/admissions) and simply click the Request Information link.
• Our four admissions recruiters participated in 362 recruitment events during the fall term. These events included visits to high schools, middle and elementary schools, college night functions, church events, apply to college sessions, presentations to various student groups and agencies, and a number of special events hosted on each campus.

Enrollment Staff: Campus Deans
• Enrollment staff at all campuses have responded to a total of 7,226 student questions and issues at all campuses since September 1, 2014 according to our GHC411 Ticketing system.
• Student Life coordinators planned and coordinated 10 new student orientations that accounted for 604 new students. New Student Orientations involve the efforts of current students serving as orientation leaders, numerous departments, and faculty representatives from all academic divisions.
• Student Life coordinators also managed over 50 events on campus to engage our students and encourage their participation in student organizations and leadership positions.

Admissions Office – Sandie Davis, Director
• The Admissions office processed approximately 1,900 applications for the spring term and made decisions on 1,540 files. Approximately 900 of these applicants enrolled this semester. The other files remained incomplete because the applicants failed to provide necessary documents or did not complete Compass testing.
• Additionally, the admissions staff processed 147 residency petitions and 66 tuition waivers giving students the opportunity to receive in-state tuition rates and remain enrolled.
• The Application Deadline for Spring was December 15. The Application Deadline Appeals Committee reviewed 66 appeals, and approximately 40 of these students were granted appeals. Appeals are granted primarily when the student can present a history of proven academic success and/or special circumstances that led to the student applying late (ie: student learned mother has cancer and returned home to care for her).

Financial Aid: Megan Simpson, Director
• Staff in the Financial Aid office responded to over 3,000 student questions and/or issues since September 1, 2014. These numbers are part of the 7,226 responded by all staff.
• Financial aid staff continued to review the ever-changing balance due list assisting every possible student.
• There have been a total of 1,626 students selected for verification for the 14/15 financial aid year that have been processed. In fact, all financial aid documents received were processed, and in many cases processed on the same day.
• Approximately 70 – 75% of our student population receives some form of financial aid that has to be processed each semester. A single change to a student’s schedule requires the financial aid staff to run through their processes again. In other words, financial aid processing never stops.

Advising: Joan Ledbetter, Director
• Our five professional academic advisors met with 1,749 students during the last nine weeks… or at least that’s how many we were able to track. This equates to advising 34% of the student body.
• Advising staff at the Floyd Campus piloted a new program that allowed students to meet individually with a professional advisor and complete a mini-orientation. Approximately 60 students completed this process, most of whom were adult students.

Testing: Phyllis Chunn, Director
• Our three full-time testing coordinators and their proctors tested and retested a total 764 students for the spring semester. Keep in mind that this is in the midst of end of term testing.

Business Office: Stephanie Lovelace, Bursar
• Business Office staff managed the student notification system prior to each fee payment deadline and assisted enrollment staff with making hundreds of personal phone calls to students regarding their accounts.
• From December 15 – January 14 (minus holiday break), the business office processed over 2,519 transactions amounting to $1.7 million in revenue.

Student Support Services (Counseling and Disability Services): Angie Wheelus, Director
• The three full-time counseling staff and one intern provided 451 counseling sessions with our students during the Fall 2014 term. This equated to over 440 hours of personal, career and special counseling cases. A number of these students have remained enrolled based upon these efforts.
• Our two disability support specialists continue to serve approximately 181 students with their accommodation services and personal support at all campus locations.

From their first impression with a GHC employee or experience on campus, we all serve valuable roles in the retention and recruitment of our student population. Numerous individuals and departments continue to make this first impression a favorable one. Whether it’s hosting the Foundation Camp or programs for middle school students, calling a student who missed class, or taking time to pause in the grocery store to answer a few questions about the College because you were wearing a GHC shirt or name tag, we all contribute to the enrollment and completion of our students.

Thank you all for your continued efforts in making GHC a special place for the students and employees. I will provide updates to our retention and recruitment efforts and new initiatives in the near future. If you have any topics you would like additional information on, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Todd G. Jones, Ed.D.
Vice President for Student Affairs
Georgia Highlands College
tjones@highlands.edu