Baltimore City
Community College
Consulting Report
Stanley Henderson
Clayton Smith
AACRAO Senior Consultants
December 15, 2007
Consultation Summary
Senior Consultants Stanley Henderson and Clayton
Smith conducted a consulting visit to Baltimore City
Community College (BCCC) on September 24-25, 2007
to review student recruitment and retention functions,
and make recommendations to support the institutionwide strategic enrollment management agenda. This is
the first of two planned visits to BCCC to enhance
enrollment management at the College.
2
Project Goals
 Assist BCCC in reviewing existing recruitment and
retention plans and programs.
 Make recommendations for improving the College’s
overall enrollment planning.
 Focus on existing enrollment plans, with less
attention provided to specific recruitment and
retention functions.
Contract, p. 7
3
Visit 1 Agenda
 Meetings with the BCCC Project Manager, Project
Team, and other relevant BCCC staff to discuss
existing enrollment recruitment and retention plans
and programs, as well as preliminary ideas for
improvement.
 A report in PowerPoint format summarizing
observations and preliminary recommendations.
The report will be submitted to the BCCC Project
Manager within three weeks of the conclusion of the
visit for review and correction of factual items as
appropriate.
 The revised report will be presented to the Project
Team and other campus groups as requested during
the second visit.
-Contract, p. 7
4
Interviews in Chronological
Order









5
Enrollment Management Project Team
President’s Staff
Director of Admissions
Recruiters, Call Center Coordinator, Athletics
Recruiter
President
Deans, Department Chairs, Faculty Members
Vice-President for Academic Affairs
Dean or Enrollment Management, Dean of Student
Success & Director of Off Campus Programs
Vice President for Student Affairs
Interviews, continued






BCEC Staff
Marketing, Publications & Web Staff
Financial Aid Staff
Group of Students
Chief Information Technology Officer
Honors Director, Student Success Center Director,
Vocational Services Director, EWSSC Coordinator
and Student Activities Director, RPC Coordinator,
Test Center Director
 Registrar’s Office Staff
 Upward Bound, Student Support Services, Talent
Search
 Enrollment Management Project Team
6
General Observations
 Social justice is an important issue in Baltimore, with
73% of the population without an associate degree
and 38% not having a high school diploma.
Moreover, Maryland is the richest state in the
country, while Baltimore City is the third poorest city.
The role of BCCC in moving Baltimore forward is
both critical and important.
 Changes in senior leadership (three presidents in six
years and 10 academic vice-presidents in 10 years)
during the last decade have resulted in a turbulent
period of management which impacted support for
enrollment management.
 A 7.6% decrease in fall 2007 enrollment has created
concern about the College’s market position. Of
particular concern is a recent decline in four zip
codes comprising West Baltimore, a traditional
market area.
7
Organization
Observations
 The College has determined that it needs to create a
comprehensive and strategic enrollment plan to meet
the challenges of an increasingly competitive
regional higher education market place.
 The College has used an enrollment management
committee (MARS) in the past, but discontinued it.
The current Enrollment Management Project Team
has potential for effectively coordinating enrollment
management activities.
 The Academic Master Plan calls for creation of
“efficient, effective, stable operational systems”
based on academic functions, administration of
College policies and procedures that promote
effective and efficient operations, and
implementation of an efficient and flexible
organizational structure that meets student needs.
8
Organization
Observations
 Less than optimal communications between
departments has led some to question the College’s
organizational dynamics.
 The work of enrollment management is centered in
both academic and student affairs. While the Dean
of Enrollment Management reports through the Vice
President for Student Affairs, it is important that she
develop strong relationships with her academic
colleagues in Academic Affairs.
9
Organization
Recommendations
 Once the SEM Plan is approved, the College should
develop a standing enrollment management
committee to continue the work of the Enrollment
Management Project Team.
 BCCC should develop an internal marketing effort to
emphasize the campus’ social justice vision.
 The Dean of Enrollment Management should
develop strong relationships with the department
chairs and academic deans to ensure that enrollment
management is well supported by Academic Affairs.
10
Human Resources
Observations
 The Academic Master Plan calls for the development
of a professional working environment that employs
highly qualified and effective academic
administration, faculty and staff, improvement of
employment processes, and fostering a
management culture that is grounded in teamwork.
 Academic department chairs are becoming 100%
administrative positions, which should result in more
focus on enrollment matters.
 Customer service is uneven throughout the College.
11
Human Resources
Observations
 Budget conditions in the State of Maryland have had
a serious impact on BCCC as a state agency. The
staff and faculty have had difficulty adjusting to the
repositioning necessitated by these adverse budget
constraints. Evidence provided since the on-site visit
suggests that the campus is aware of these
difficulties and issues are being addressed.
 There appears to be more staff per student at BCCC
than at comparably sized community colleges.
 Retention of staff is poor. Some feel it is because of
a lack of support.
12
Human Resources
Observations, continued
 There is little time available for staff development.
 Nearly 2/3’s of faculty and staff reported in the
Climate Survey that morale is not high on campus.
 While Student Affairs staff and faculty express
satisfaction with how communication flows within
their individual departments, there is less satisfaction
with general campus communication (see Climate
Survey).
 Academic deans and student affairs deans have
developed a collaborative process to deal with
common issues.
13
Human Resources
Recommendations
 When staff changes are necessitated by budget cuts,
ensure that staff moving into new positions are
supported by existing staff development funds and
programs to minimize negative impact on morale and
performance.
 Conduct customer service training throughout the
College, especially in the key student touch points.
 Develop a plan to make maximum use of department
chairs now that they are 100% administrative.
Accountability should be established in support of
recruitment, retention and enrollment planning.
14
Human Resources
Recommendations
 Examine the distribution of staff at BCCC to
determine if staff levels are appropriate to work-flow.
 Explore why staff turn-over at BCCC is high.
15
Physical Structure
Observations
 The Academic Master Plan calls for ensuring that all
instructional facilities are conducive to creating an
appropriate learning environment and that the
College should secure additional instructional space
for new and expanding programs.
 BCEC has outgrown its Harbor facility, while there is
ample space for growth in the Bard Building.
 Decline in Harbor campus credit hours appears to be
caused more by a decline in the supply of courses
offered than in student demand for such courses.
16
Physical Structure
Recommendations
 Address campus appearance by establishing a
master plan for physical facility enhancements.
 There is considerable evidence that there are not
enough offerings in general education and
development courses since Harbor Campus
offerings were dialed back.
 Although developments since our visit indicate that
the Harbor Campus may not be available due to
demolition and redevelopment by a private
developer, the college should develop a strategic
facilities plan that will ensure adequate classroom
stock to allow for growth.
17
SEM Plan
Observations
 The Academic Master Plan calls for the development
of a comprehensive recruitment and retention
strategy that considers the diverse needs of student
populations.
 A draft Strategic Enrollment Management Plan is in
the developmental stage.
 The Strategic Planning Model’s connection between
strategic planning and the enrollment management
plan is an effective way to center enrollment
activities consistent with strategic priorities of the
institution.
18
SEM Plan
Recommendation
 The SEM plan needs to include actions, timetables
and assessment activities. It should be completed
before the College embarks on any substantial
changes to the way in manages its enrollments.
19
Academic Programs
Observations
 Non-credit courses are primarily taught at the Harbor
campus or at off-campus sites, with credit
coursework taking most of the Liberty campus
capacity.
 Potential exists for enrollment growth in pre-GED
coursework. However, there is limited space to meet
this need.
 There are waitlists for most ESL classes.
 15% of ESL graduates continue toward credit
degrees.
 The “one-college” concept, which called for the
integration of credit and non-credit programming,
appears to work better for those engaged in credit
coursework.
20
Academic Programs
Observations, continued
 State agencies located downtown do not make
effective use of BCCC.
 Since the 1980’s, there has been a decline in the
number of general education sections offered at the
Harbor campus (from 40% of the total to 20%).
 BCCC has developed very few new academic
programs in recent years, while CCBC has
aggressively introduced a number of new programs.
 A number of academic programs do not have
program advisory committees.
 Courses are often cancelled late, which results in
space not being available for non-credit classes.
21
Academic Programs
Observations, continued
 Perception that the Allied Health program is not
flexible enough to support enrollment due to a lack of
Saturday and evening classes.
 The Academic Master Plan calls for the creation of
an “exemplary and effective model for developmental
education”.
 A relatively small percentage of general education
(32 out of 316 sections) and developmental
education (27 out of 164) sections are offered at the
Harbor campus despite apparent space availability
and demand.
 15% of credit enrollments come by way of prior
enrollment in non-credit coursework.
22
Academic Programs
Observations, continued
 The development education curriculum implemented
in fall 2005 has not achieved different outcomes from
the program in place previously.
 ESL enrollments have grown considerably over the
last three years.
 BCCC’s credit enrollment is 50% higher than in
1991, when it became a State institution, with most
of the increase related to health careers.
 Use of some terms (e.g., Apparel Technology) are
not consistent with their use in the student
population.
23
Academic Programs
Recommendations
 Develop a plan for finding more facilities to teach
pre-GED courses. This will require increased quality
control.
 Consider expanding ESL sections to meet demand
for ESL instruction.
 Conduct a program mix assessment to determine
what new programs should be developed and what
current programs should be modified or terminated.
The assessment should include examination of
employment trends.
 Establish advisory committees for any programs that
do not have advisory committees.
24
Academic Programs
Recommendations, continued
 Consider renaming academic programs so that they
match the language of today’s students. For
instance, Apparel Technology might be changed to
Fashion Design.
 Consider adjusting how departments are listed on
the Web so that they can be found more easily.
English is currently listed as “Department of English”
rather than English Department.
25
Academic Programs
Recommendations, continued
 Develop a facilities plan that will allow for the
expansion of general education and developmental
course offerings outside the Liberty Campus and that
will take course offerings to where students are (e.g.,
governmental agencies). Such expansion should
allow for course offerings at least equal to the current
potential of the Harbor Campus. This will be
especially important in light of the potential loss of
the current Harbor Campus for redevelopment
purposes.
26
Data Mining & Analysis
Observations
 The Academic Master Plan calls for the
establishment of a comprehensive student learning
outcomes assessment plan, which includes
monitoring of graduation, transfer and employment
rates, and utilization of an academic assessment
model to track the success of academic support
services.
 It appears that the College is not tunneling far
enough into the data to make meaningful use of
available information.
27
Data Mining & Analysis
Recommendations
 Conduct an environmental scan (last one completed
in 2000) prior to finalizing the strategic enrollment
plan.
 The College should consider adopting a data-driven
decision making approach. This will require making
more extensive use of available data. Need to tunnel
further into the data to achieve meaningful
information. For instance, it is important not only to
know what zip codes perform but what is going on in
each zip code region in order to determine what
recruitment is appropriate.
28
Information Technology
Observations
 The student information system, while satisfactory
for performing basic administrative functions, does
not meet the minimum needs of a modern college.
 Student information system does not permit on-line
registration for non-credit students.
 An on-line early alert intervention is being
introduced; however, since faculty members will
need to enter data in the system manually buy-in
may be limited.
 Many classrooms do not include overhead projectors
at the Harbor campus (4 out of 20 rooms).
 Web seminars cannot be done at the Harbor campus
because of the way the campus links to the Liberty
campus system.
29
Information Technology
Observations, continued
 There is a student portal; however, it is not well
promoted.
 The Computing Options Corporation (COCO)
student information system has been considered
outdated since 2000.
 The search for a new student information systems
will include an assessment of the IT organization. It
also will include a business process work flow
analysis in such areas as Financial Aid, Registrar’s
Office, Student Affairs and Admissions.
 Training has been provided on a number of software
applications, but use of the new systems has not
been widespread. There appears to be some
reluctance to learn new technology.
30
Information Technology
Observations, continued
 There is success with document imaging in the
Financial Aid Office. Potential exists for expanding
document imaging to other student records offices.
 Approximately 30 students use the telephone
registration system each semester.
 Only 600 students register on-line each semester.
 Student passwords were reported not to work at
critical times during the academic year.
31
Information Technology
Recommendations
 Set in motion the purchase of a new student
information system.
 Enhance the early alert system so that faculty
members have minimal data entry responsibilities.
 Assess IT training program to determine if it might be
improved from a customer perspective.
 Consider expanding document imaging to other
student records offices.
 Explore ways to increase on-line registration. This
will require assessing whether the current holds are
necessary and limiting all but the most critical holds.
32
Information Technology
Recommendations
 Consider terminating the telephone registration
system.
 Discontinue arena registration.
 Assess student passwords to ensure that they are
operational 24/7 and throughout the year.
33
Marketing
Observations
 There is a lack of understanding as to who the
student customer is at BCCC.
 College leadership has placed more emphasis on
university parallel/transfer programs even though
there is strong interest in applied technology
programs.
 Web site includes out-of-date information.
Navigation may also be a concern. Some key words
missing, like “admission”.
 The rules of engagement have changed in Baltimore
now that the University of Baltimore admits students
at the lower division level.
34
Marketing
Observations, continued
 Send 40,000 course schedules out to 5 zip codes.
 The College has entered into a branding process for
the first time. Half of the funds available are onetime, which could be problematic in fully
implementing the brand. It will probably be difficult to
establish outcomes after only one year.
 Marketing staff appear overwhelmed. It may be
difficult to focus on the branding strategy when the
day-to-day activities are sometimes beyond reach.
 The Web site includes a large number of PDF
documents, including the catalog, which are not easy
to navigate.
 The Marketing staff support a large number of
publications.
35
Marketing
Observations, continued
 Accessibility to the Web is not fully understood;
some feel that low-income students do not have
good access, while others see access as nearly
universal.
 The catalog is not produced prior to the beginning of
the recruitment cycle.
 The master calendar has not been completed in a
year and a half.
 The Draft Comprehensive Branding & Marketing
Plan is missing a costing section.
36
Marketing
Observations, continued
 Areas outside of Marketing have found it necessary
to develop promotional publications without
involvement from Marketing. This has sometimes
resulted in errors appearing in publications.
 Internal marketing can be helpful in supporting staff
and brought faculty in times of change and resulting
morale issues on by budget constraints and
reductions.
37
Marketing
Recommendations
 All recruitment publications should be current and
available prior to the beginning of the recruitment
cycle.
 Promotion should be more targeted. Identify market
segments/market niche and target promotional
activities to reach these student groups.
 Consider outsourcing the branding campaign.
 Change most PDF documents on the Web site to
HTML pages.
 Consider reducing the number of marketing
publications so that the remainder can have better
quality.
38
Marketing
Recommendations, continued
 Discern the extent of Web accessibility among
student market segments.
 Establish clear deadlines for catalog sign-offs to
ensure prompt printing.
 Develop an internal marketing plan to increase
communication among College groups with an eye
toward increasing staff morale.
 Marketing priority should be given to the 4 zip codes
in West Baltimore in the core market area that have
shown a recent decline in student enrollment.
 Print a catalog once very two years.
39
Marketing
Recommendations, continued
 Keep the master calendar up-to-date.
 Implement the practice of requiring of all promotional
publications to be approved by Marketing.
40
Recruitment
Observations
 By moving the recruiters in and out of Admissions
and through uneven recruiting hiring practices, the
College has not been consistent with new student
recruitment; especially in community and middle
school recruitment.
 Recruiters have not had consistent access within the
past five years to recruiting publications (e.g.,
viewbook, view piece, catalog). For instance, the
catalog is currently not available even though the fall
semester is well underway. Instances were reported
of shifting funds from non-publication accounts (e.g.,
Student Affairs) to support publication development
in an ad hoc fashion.
41
Recruitment
Observations, continued
 The Admissions Office uses an innovative middle
school awareness approach that provides a
simulation of the admissions and student experience
at BCCC.
 The recruitment effort has had a number of starts
and stops, resulting in uneven follow-up (e.g., middle
school partnerships).
 Some recruitment publications were found to contain
typo’s and inaccurate information.
 Some key information is unknown at critical
recruitment points (e.g., the start dates for the spring
semester were unknown during the first few weeks of
the fall semester).
 BCCC enrolls a relatively small percentage of
Baltimore City high school graduates.
42
Recruitment
Observations, continued
 Brochure racks in the high schools were taken down
because the College did not have current
publications and were never put back in use.
 Approximately 20% of new student enrollment
comes directly from high school. However, most of
the recruitment effort is focused toward high school
students.
 A recruitment rewards program was implemented.
 Competition is more prepared for student recruitment
than BCCC. This is especially true with regard to
CCBC.
 With 42% of 9th graders not expected to graduate,
there is room for BCCC to collaborate with city
schools.
43
Recruitment
Observations, continued
 The Academic Master Plan calls for strengthening
articulation with community and educational
institutions, and specifically to enhance the
partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools.
 The Call Center is a good way to process highvolume recruitment calls, especially during peak
periods.
 The Draft 2006-2008 Comprehensive Recruitment
Plan does not include numeric goals by target
market. It does, however, contain a well-written
action plan for each target group.
44
Recruitment
Recommendations
 Clarify the role of the recruiters so that they can
achieve the College’s enrollment goals.
 The recruitment plan should be supported more
consistently to ensure appropriate follow-up of
recruitment activities, especially in middle schools
and churches.
 Re-introduce BCCC brochure racks in the City high
schools.
 Find ways to include faculty members in student
recruitment (e.g., on-campus recruitment events) and
admissions yield (e.g., post-admission calling
campaigns).
45
Recruitment
Recommendations, continued
 Develop a mechanism for capturing more ESL
graduates into credit degree program coursework.
 Establish recruiting systems that take into account
the sources of new student enrollment.
 Assess the recruitment rewards program to
determine how it might be enhanced to increase
student enrollment.
 Evaluate the effectiveness of the middle and early
high school awareness programs.
 Establish numeric goals for each target group.
 Finalize the Comprehensive Recruitment Plan,
insuring that it encompasses academic and student
affairs recruitment strategies.
46
Admissions
Observations
 Prospective students experience a “run-around”
during the application process, requiring them to visit
3 different buildings.
 On-line registration is limited by institutional practice,
resulting in relatively few students choosing on-line
registration.
 Faculty do not appear to be involved in student
recruitment or admission yield activities.
 Communication overlaps, which sometimes result in
the same population receiving two different
communications at the same time.
47
Admissions
Recommendations
 Reschedule college-wide “welcome back” events so
that they do not conflict with registration.
 Examine the criteria for participation in on-line
registration and remove any rules unrelated to
course registration.
 Conduct a communications audit and then develop a
communication system that coordinates the various
communications from BCCC to maximum enrollment
management effect.
48
Financial Aid
Observations
 Most students (80-85%) receive some financial aid.
 The student Web portal does not include the
scholarship matrix.
 BCCC does not offer any loan programs to its
students, other than private loans, out of concern for
student defaults.
 Completing registration in a one-stop environment is
difficult for financial aid professionals given the
complexity of the financial aid process.
 Students can apply for financial aid through the
beginning of the semester, which creates difficulties
for students to fully comprehend their financial
obligations.
49
Financial Aid
Recommendations
 Place the scholarship matrix in the student Web
portal.
 Consider participating in the federal student loan
programs to ensure that low-income students receive
enough financial aid to attend the College. A default
minimization program should also be implemented.
 Review the one-stop registration process to assess
how financial aid processing might be enhanced.
 Consider establishing appropriate financial aid
deadlines to ensure that students a) obtain all the
financial aid they are entitled to receive and b) fully
understand their financial obligations.
50
Student Services
Observations
 The campus bookstore does not carry some
supplies. Even when they are ordered in a timely
manner, books sometimes are not received before
the end of the 2nd week of classes.
 There has been a reduction of approximately 300
parking spaces at the Liberty campus. This may be
impacting part-time enrollment.
51
Student Services
Recommendations
 Develop a plan to increase parking spaces on the
Liberty campus.
 Establish learning outcomes for all student affairs
areas.
 Consider implementing a computer purchase
program.
 Ensure that all supplies requested by faculty
members be made available to students through the
Bookstore.
52
Retention
Observations
 The Academic Master Plan endorses retention and
success of students as a priority goal.
 The Center for Teaching & Learning shows potential
for improving pedagogy and encouraging curriculum
improvement.
 Innovative program for African-American males –
QUEST.
 The Retention Plan is in draft form. While broad
goals have been established, the action plan is
undeveloped.
 Leadership for minorities access is limited.
 There is some interest in returning to the intrusive
advising/case-load system.
53
Retention
Observations, continued
 Some incorrect academic advising reported.
 The Student Success Center does not have staff
resources to act as liaison for the College to fouryear colleges and universities and to ensure up-todate, consistent information on transfer issues for
faculty advisors.
 Orientation is conducted during the summer when it
is difficult to gain a realistic feeling of student life at
BCCC.
 Despite the need for remediation, students who
complete their development studies do significantly
better than those who didn’t complete all
development coursework. However, fewer BCCC
students complete all the development courses they
need in comparison to other Maryland CC’s.
54
Retention
Observations, continued
 The Task Force on Student Retention Report is a
good first step toward the development of a
comprehensive retention strategy.
 The work of the Center for Student Engagement in
promoting service learning is to be commended as
an important retention tool.
 84% of BCCC students are employed; 51% more
than 30 hours per week.
55
Retention
Recommendations
 Examine the possibility of returning to an intrusive
advising system, especially for developmental
education students.
 Provide holistic training for academic advisors so
that advising can be more developmental.
 Given the College’s focus on transfer programs,
place a resource staff position in the Student
Success Center to assist faculty with 4-year transfer
advising.
 Explore ways to increase the rate at which students
successfully complete all their developmental
courses.
56
Retention
Recommendations
 Encourage the Center for Teaching and Learning to
promote innovative instructional strategies to
enhance student success.
 Consider implementing an early orientation program
(possibly during the end of the spring semester) that
permits students to gain a realistic sense of student
life.
 Complete the Retention Plan’s action plans for each
of the seven student retention goals listed in the Plan
document.
57
Visit 2 Agenda
 Present the report from Visit 1 to the Project Team,
and other campus groups as requested, and solicit
feedback to further refine recommendations.
 Assist the Project Team to identify next steps to be
taken by BCCC to improve its enrollment planning.
 Conduct a half-day enrollment management planning
workshop
58