Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success Plan
Priority 1: Traditional and Transfer Student Enrollment
Priority 2: Increase Online and Dual Credit Enrollment
Priority 3: Institutionalize Student Success
Priority 4: Retention, Progression and Graduation
Project Team:
Dr. Leander "Russ" McDonald, President
Dr. Lisa Azure, VP of Academic Affairs – CNSS Contact Lead
Brett Williamson, Dean of Instruction
TBA, Student Activities and Retention Coordinator
Jamie Merrick, Transfer and Career Services Coordinator
Dr. Monte Schaff, Dean of Enrollment Management
Introduction
The United Tribes Technical College (UTTC) Strategic Enrollment Management Student Success Plan identifies four priority areas of targeted growth and strategies needed to achieve the performance targets for each priority area. The plan was developed from fall of 2019 through spring of 2020. The establishment of performance targets were based on historical enrollment, retention, persistence, and completion numbers. The identified targets were determined to be reasonable and attainable, and the implementation of processes and communication improvements has resulted in the achievement of the established benchmarks. The plan will be regularly reviewed to determine if new priorities need to be added or if the performance targets need to be adjusted.
The SEM Planning Process
Monitor and revise goals, benchmarks and strategies
Analysis of enrollment data
Implementation of strategies
Establishment of Plan goals and benchmarks and strategies
Glossary
Continuing Education Unit (CEU): a credit awarded to participants who complete non-college
Degree seeking student: A full-time or part-time student enrolled in a certificate, diploma, associate, or bachelor’s degree program
Early College (dual credit student): a high school student enrolled in a postsecondary course for both college and high school credit
Early Entry: high school student taking college courses for college credit only
First-time attending: Any student who is attending UTTC for the first time
FTEIC: First time ever in college student
Full-time student: A student enrolled in 12 or more credits during the fall or spring semester, or 6 or more credits during the summer semester
Non-degree seeking student: A student taking one of more college classes for credit, but not enrolled in a degree program, or a student taking a non-college credit (CEU) class
Part-time student: A student enrolled in less than 12 credits during the fall or spring semester, or 5 or less credits during the summer semester
Persistence: First-time student who enrolls in the fall and either graduates in the fall or continues their enrollment in the spring
Retention: First-time student who enrolls in the fall and either graduates in the fall, spring, or summer or continues their enrollment in the following fall
Transfer student: A student who attended a postsecondary institution prior to enrolling at UTTC
Enrollment Trends
Enrollment Priority One: Traditional and Transfer Student Enrollment
UTTC’s fall enrollment has been trending positive since 2016. Prior to the development of the SEM Plan in 2019, however, there were no institutional goals identified for enrollment with respect to increasing applications and overall enrollment numbers.
To promote an increase in traditional and transfer student enrollments, UTTC has outlined two objectives associated with the number of applications being received as well as focusing on converting applicants to enrollments.
Objective One: Increase applications by 15% over three years from 670 applications to 770 applications
Objective Two: Increase student enrollment by 15% over three years from 435 students to 496 students
i. Increase traditional and transfer student enrollment
Strategic Area 2: Student Recruitment and Innovative Programming
Strategy: 2a: Increase student enrollment through recruitment strategies
• Strengthen and expand recruitment strategies geared toward freshman and transfer students.
• Evaluate, enhance, and streamline the transfer enrollment process.
• Increase partnership agreements with other TCUs and state colleges, focusing on feeder institutions.
• Increase the access rate by developing strategies that remove financial barriers for students eligible for the Pell Grant.
• Application targets established.
• Enrollment targets established.
Strategy 1: Strengthen and expand recruitment strategies geared toward freshman and transfer students
Recruitment Channels
Historical Recruitment Data
A review of applicant data from 2019 to 2024 highlights how applicants hear about UTTC. The overwhelming majority of students indicated they were referred to UTTC by a family member or friends. The college website is the second major source of referrals, while all other channels, such as social media, campus visits, Powwows, and media represent 8% of all referral sources. Increasing the effectiveness of additional recruitment channels while continuing the success of family and friend referrals will support the growth of UTTC student enrollment.
Regularly Scheduled Recruitment Activities
Family/Friends Referrals UTTC Website Word of Mouth Campus Visit to UTTC
The Admissions Office conducts regularly scheduled recruitment activities, as well as participating in events and activities not included on the Recruitment Activities Calendar. Typical activities and communications that originate in the Admissions office are:
• Emailing “Apply Today”, and “Missing Requirements” postcards to current applicants, prior applicants, and students who attend college tours
• Annual visit to Standing Rock High School
• Social media postings, including postcards distributed across all social media channels
• Contacting Higher Education Program Offices for tribes in Arizona, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming
• Communicating with local high school counselors
• Sending “swag packages” to regional high schools
Non-Scheduled Recruitment Activities
Non-scheduled recruitment activities occur based on external requests from high schools for information, visits, and campus tours. The Admissions Office responds to these requests as received, and follow-up communications are sent to visiting high school students or individuals who have requested additional information.
A second non-scheduled activity involves leveraging the National Student Clearinghouse data to identify applicants who did not enroll at UTTC or another institution. A list of applicants who did not enroll at UTTC is submitted to the Clearinghouse, in the middle of the fall or middle of the spring semester. A report is provided by the Clearinghouse that indicates if that applicant has enrolled at another institution. The applicants who did not enroll at UTTC or at another institution are contacted by the Admissions Office and encouraged to reapply at UTTC.
Non-Traditional Recruitment Opportunities
UTTC has a variety of strategic and collaborative partnerships that have not been fully leveraged with respect to recruitment of students. Incorporating these opportunities into the Strategic Enrollment Management Plan will result in intentional engagement with UTTC partners to increase enrollment. Examples of partnerships that may support increasing transfer students include:
• CEU Outreach: UTTC awards continuing education units (CEUs) for completion of formalized training conducted by tribal, local and regional organizations. Partnerships with tribal organizations can serve as another communications channel to share information about UTTC’s programs.
• Community Outreach: Institutional data has demonstrated the importance of “word-of-mouth” with respect to how applicants hear about United Tribes. The College can take advantage of this word-ofmouth recruitment through participation in community events that increase exposure to the college and programs available at UTTC. Increasing UTTC’s presence at community events, including offcampus career fairs, mascot nights and sponsorships at sporting events, and other community activities can help promote an awareness of the college. Increasing communications between College Relations and Enrollment Services will help keep the Admissions staff aware of potential community engagement opportunities.
Recruitment Activities Calendar
The Admissions Office is currently working on a calendar of recruitment events, including when the activities take place, message, and channel of communication used for each activity. This will assist the Admissions staff with keeping up with scheduled activities as well as allow the Admissions department to better understand the effectiveness of the recruitment processes. When complete, the calendar will be added to this section of the Strategic Enrollment Management Plan.
Spring (January – May)
Reminders of Admissions Deadline (all applications must be complete)
Social media posting of Summer and Fall dates
Start of New Year mail UTTC calendar to HS Counselors
Communication sent to inquiries, HS counselors and tours-email and postcards
End of the semester- Contact applicants who did not complete app to roll to next semester
Reminders of missing requirements for summer and fall
Summer (June – July)
Reminders of Admissions Deadline (all applications must be complete)
Social media posting of fall and spring dates
Social media posting of fall application deadline countdown
Reminders of missing requirements for fall and spring
End of the semester- Contact applicants who did not complete app to roll to next semester
Fall (August – December)
Reminders of Admissions Deadline (all applications must be complete)
Participate in College Application Days (attend events/provide information and swag items)
Communication sent to inquiries, HS counselors and tours-email and postcards
End of the semester- Contact applicants who did not complete app to roll to next semester
Social media posting of spring application deadline countdown
Reminders of missing requirements for spring
Strategy 2: Evaluate, enhance, and streamline the transfer enrollment process
To streamline the application process and address roadblocks or “bottlenecks” within the application to admission pathway, UTTC conducted a gap analysis of the enrollment process from the moment an application is filled out to when the student is enrolled in classes The result of that analysis allowed the college to visualize how a student’s application moved throughout the application process and identified and removed barriers to this first step in the student’s educational journey.
Strategy 3: Increase partnership agreements with other TCUs and state colleges, focusing on feeder institutions.
Continued expansion of articulation agreements and 2 + 2 programs: UTTC currently has 14 articulation agreements and three 2 + 2 transfer agreements. Effective promotion of these agreements will provide prospective students with greater awareness of their transfer options should they decide to continue their education at another institution after completing a two-year degree at UTTC.
Strategy 4: Increase the access rate by developing strategies that remove financial barriers for students eligible for the Pell Grant.
UTTC serves a high number of Pell-eligible students, with over 70% of students eligible for Pell grant funding. To support these students, the College provides a variety of supports, including assisting with completion of the FAFSA, and ensuring all verification paperwork required for FAFSA to be considered “complete” is received from the students The Financial Aid staff are also addressing the unique concerns associated with the release of a new FAFSA form To support applicants with filing their new FAFSA applications, Financial Aid will be working with College Relations to create an informational video that will provide prospective students with guidance on how to complete the new form, as well as address the new requirements associated with parent/guardian signatures.
Institutional, Tribal, and Third Party Funding
Average Pell Eligibility (2019 Fall - 2023 Fall) Pell Eligible Not Pell Eligible
The Financial Aid staff provide regular communication through email and classroom visits to help students with understanding available funding options. Students are actively encouraged to apply for scholarships, grants, and Federal Work Study and Leadership Through Experience opportunities that will provide additional funding students may apply to their unmet need. UTTC provides the Native American Tuition Waiver (NATW), which waives the tuition cost for eligible students. Initially, students needed to apply by a deadline to receive the waiver, however, this deadline has been removed allowing more students access to this funding. The following represent the fall distributions for the NATW and Pell funding.
The Financial Aid Office is working to increase collaboration with College Relations and the Finance Office to ensure that when new gifts or endowments are received, any eligibility criteria are communicated, the timeframe for the distribution of funds is understood, and the funds are distributed according to these criteria. The Financial Aid Office has also worked with stakeholders across campus to develop the following award distribution calendar:
Beginning
Fund
NATW September/January August/December
Athletic September/January August/December
Non-Ben September/February August/December
Johnson September/February August/December
WIOA September/March August/February
Hamann October September
Horror on Harmon November/December November
Student of the Year February December
Employee Giving Scholarship November/April October/March
Events Week October/March September/February
Employee Tuition Waiver December/May December/May
Enrollment Priority One, Objective One Status
The first objective of Enrollment Priority One was to increase the number of applications received by 15% based on a historical baseline of 670 applications. The following represents the substantial progress that has been made toward achieving and exceeding the goal of 770 applications by 2023.
Applications Recieved
Start of CNSS SEM Planning Grant
Enrollment Priority One, Objective Two Status
The second objective of Enrollment Priority One was to increase student enrollment by 15% based on a historical baseline of 435 students to 496 students. The following represents the enrollment growth experienced at the college, due in large part to the successful implementation of the Priority One strategies:
Student Enrollments
Start of CNSS SEM Planning Grant
Enrollment Priority Two: Increase Online and Dual Credit Students
Enrollment Trends
Online dual credit enrollment decreased significantly between 2018 and 2020, with a slight increase in enrollments since 2021 New efforts to recruit and support dual credit students were initiated in 2020 by the Monarch Project, an Office of Indian Education grant from the U.S. Department of Education, and modest increases in the number of dual credit students have been noted through the 2023 Academic Year. The Monarch Project which will continue to serve dual enrollment students through September 2025.
The Dual Credit student percentage for successful course completion (earning a “C” or better) has been in line with the overall institutional successful completion percentages. The dual credit average of successful course completion between 2018 through the fall of 2024 was 67%. The institutional average for the last academic year was 64%.
The number of enrollments of traditional age college students taking only online courses has increased dramatically, with a 504% increase between 2022 and 2023. The surge in online learning enrollments has created a need for more robust support systems to serve our online student community.
ii. Increase online and dual credit student enrollment
Strategic Area 2: Student Recruitment and Innovative Programming
Strategy: 2a: Increase student enrollment through recruitment strategies
• Develop a comprehensive outreach plan that complements existing recruitment efforts.
• Improve support resources for online and dual credit learners.
• Increase enrollment and degree completion in online programs.
• Improve operations, processes, and procedures that impact online and dual credit student enrollment.
Strategy 1: Develop a comprehensive outreach plan
• # of students in online programs over the last 3 years.
• hired early college coordinator.
• agreements established with all local high schools.
• new admission process for dual credit students.
To facilitate the growth of online and dual credit enrollment, continuous and active recruitment and engagement with potential students will be required to continue to grow the online programs. The comprehensive outreach plan will provide guidance on which activities will take place and which departments are responsible for ensuring these activities are completed.
• Engagement with local area high schools to promote dual credit enrollment: The Monarch Project staff will continue to work with schools within the Bismarck and Mandan area to recruit dual credit students until summer 2025.
• Reduced tuition rate for dual credit students: Continue the reduced tuition rate model for dual credit students that was approved by the UTTC Board of Directors in 2024.
• Recruitment efforts for online college students: Identify effective recruitment strategies for traditional aged online students.
• Establish an alumni referral program to engage alumni in the recruitment process: Alumni who refer applicants that enroll in classes will be eligible for UTTC merchandise, such as a sweatshirt, water bottle, backpack, or other items.
Strategy 2: Improve support resources for online and dual credit learners
Support for online learners is a priority for numerous initiatives at UTTC. As the number of students who are taking online courses increases, the need for support becomes increasingly critical. The following includes examples of resources that have been identified to support these learners:
• Develop an onboarding process that provides online learners with an understanding of the online learning environment, expectations, and highlighting the skills needed to be successful online learners.
• Include Accuplacer testing as an admissions requirement for online students. The Academic Success Courses (ASC) (developmental writing and math) will be developed for online delivery by fall 2025.
• Professional development for faculty on best practices in online teaching and the integration of Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) strategies is ongoing and will continue
• Efforts for strengthening student support services to ensure online students have access to campus resources, wellness and mental health support, and access to online tutoring resources are well underway. Online students must have the same opportunities to engage in the campus community as the students living on campus.
Strategy 3: Increase enrollment and degree completion in online programs
As previously mentioned, the College has seen an increase in online student enrollment with online-only enrollments increasing over 500% since 2021. The number of First-Time Full-Time (new and transfer) students has also increased since 2021. The incoming First-Time Full-Time numbers for Fall 2024 and Fall 2025 will be included and analyzed to determine if the growth continues over a 5-year period.
While the online programs are showing a robust level of growth with respect to enrollment, the outcomes for online students lag behind those of their campus-based peers. One metric to look at for student success is the number of credits attempted versus credits completed, or credit completion rate. Online students complete fewer credits than students in face-to-face courses. In addition, midterm GPAs of online students are lower for online students across all student types, indicating a need for improved supports for online students.
Another useful measure of success for online students is term GPA. When looking at the GPAs for online students compared to students taking no or some online courses, it becomes clear that more supports are needed to ensure our students who are entirely online are successful.
The following activities have been implemented to better serve online students and foster student success:
Brainfuse online tutoring
Brainfuse provides online students with access to live tutoring to assist with completing coursework.
Yellowdig social learning platform
Yellowdig provides online faculty and students with a collaborative learning environment to promote student engagement online as well as promote a sense of belonging for online students.
Ongoing faculty professional development
Faculty participate in training on using technology tools, such as Flip video, Brainfuse and Yellowdig in their courses, and ACUE courses for teaching and course development strategies Faculty development is ongoing to ensure effective teaching and advising strategies are used to enhance student learning
Online Program Data Engagement
All faculty are involved in data discussions regarding online student success patterns, looking at online student trends, and brainstorming potential strategies to address gaps in student performance. These discussions occur in department meetings, Faculty Friday Data Discussion events, All Hands meetings and committee meetings.
Institutional Support for Online Programs
The college has expanded its online program offerings and monitors student progress in the online courses to determine what further institutional supports are needed to ensure our online students have access to the same or similar supports and services as our campus-based students.
Strategy 4: Improve operations, processes, and procedures that impact online and dual credit student enrollment
Online Learning Director
The college has created an Online Learning Director position to provide oversight and guidance to the online and dual credit programs. Once hired, the Director will be responsible for ensuring the needs of online learners are being met and that instruction in online courses is consistent and providing students with a high quality and engaging learning experience.
Defining Student Success
Enrollment Priority Three: Institutionalize Student Success
The College solicited feedback from students to develop a definition of student success. Students were given the opportunity to respond to two questions – “What does student success mean to you?” and “What does student success look like at UTTC?”. The comments from students were used to generate an institutional statement of student success:
Student success at UTTC extends beyond academic achievement to leadership development. Successful student leaders develop positive campus community relationships and display strong work habits, confidence, resilience, and belief in self.
UTTC students identified this definition of student success for cultural, educated, and healthy leaders:
1. Student leaders perceive themselves as contributing members of the campus community.
2. Student leaders are prepared to learn, regularly attend class, complete assignments on time, and demonstrate other positive work habits that contribute to achieving career pathway goals.
3. Student leaders are confident and able to work through life challenges through effective planning and prioritizing.
4. Student leaders believe in their ability to accomplish challenging tasks and that with effort, their ability can grow.
The definition of student success has informed how co-curricular assessment is conducted and identified measures that highlight development of positive work habits, growth in confidence, and increased resiliency.
Strategy: 3a: Increase student retention through targeted retention strategies
i. Institutionalize Student Success
• Continue to enhance first- and second-year experiences.
• Formalize high impact professional development standards for all faculty.
• Enhance advising and tutoring supports to ensure alignment across campus.
• Develop strategies to actively engage
• New tutoring provider with measurable outcomes.
• FYE participation and engagement numbers.
students in the learning process.
Strategy 1: Continue to enhance first- and second-year experiences
Each fall and spring semester begins with a “Welcome Week” for new students. The “Welcome Week” has been revised several times based on student feedback, initially being a one-day orientation event where students were provided information from many departments and then sent to their academic advisors for registration. The current format includes a week of activities designed to help students get to know the institution, their peers, and participate in activities to promote a sense of belonging for new students. Feedback on “Welcome Week” will continue to be collected to ensure this is a positive and meaningful experience for new students.
New students are required to complete a 2-credit First Year Experience course in their first semester at UTTC. This course focuses on helping students develop academic and lifestyle habits that will translate into academic success. While the overall success rate has increased for the First Year Experience courses, enhancements should continue to improve the student learning experience in this course.
The academic performance of second year indicates that sophomore students tend to have higher GPAs than first-year students, which is to be expected. However, there are likely a variety of areas that can be improved to assist second-year students, including:
• Assisting with transferring to a four-year program
• Career guidance
• Helping with transitioning form student mindset to employee mindset
These are areas that will be the focus of a “Building Pathways to Rural and Tribal Employment” initiative that has started in the summer of 2024. This initiative will provide support for leveraging new employment tools and improving career guidance for our graduates.
Strategy 2: Formalize high impact professional development standards for all faculty Faculty participate in professional development opportunities at the beginning and end of the fall semester, as well as at the beginning and end of the spring semester. Professional development includes topics on culturally relevant instructional practices, as well as professional development on assessment, technology and instruction, and other relevant topics. Faculty are also required to participate in ACUE courses in the summer, for which they receive compensation for completing. Attendance at local, regional, and national conferences is also supported.
Strategy 3: Enhance advising and tutoring supports to ensure alignment across campus Student advising is provided by department chairs, as primary advisors. Most departments employ shared advising duties to better meet student need with all faculty in the department serving as academic advisors. Advising is facilitated through the use of Advising Checklists, Thunder Alerts, and Academic Contracts. The combination of interpersonal and electronic communication has helped shape the college’s own academic advising model. The Student Activities and Retention Coordinator also assists in advising and works closely with those students who are on academic probation.
Tutoring is provided by all faculty who post a minimum of 10 hours per week of regularly scheduled tutoring hours for students. Tutoring is tracked within the institution’s Retention system. Additionally, online students can access tutoring through Brainfuse tutoring, which is available for on-demand tutoring at any time students need access to a tutor.
Strategy
4: Develop strategies to actively engage students in the learning process
The College has engaged students in a variety of activities to gain feedback and allow students to contribute their ideas to improve the student experience. Course-level feedback is collected through end-of-semester course evaluations. Students also participate in focus groups, data walks, and student satisfaction surveys. Most recently, the RNL Student Satisfaction Survey was conducted, with students identifying two areas of improvement – faculty understanding of students’ unique life experiences, and development of a sense of belonging at the institution. All departments were required to discuss these two areas and come up with ideas to address them. The ideas were recorded in department meeting minutes and will be used to develop campus-wide initiatives in the coming year.
Retention Trends
Enrollment Priority Four: Retention,
Progression and Graduation
The college established a fall-to-fall retention benchmark of 55% for first-time full-time students. While the college exceeded that benchmark for 2020, the retention rate has been consistently near 50% over the next three years. The high retention rate for 2020 may have been a function of measures taken during the Covid Pandemic, and the college may want to consider whether the 55% retention benchmark is realistic or needs to be revised.
Strategy: 3a: Increase student retention through targeted retention strategies Objective Unit Activities/Responsible
ii. Increase first time and transfer student Retention, Progression and Graduation
• Improve academic support resources.
• Strengthen student engagement efforts through cultural and recreational activities on campus.
• Refine the IT, Bookstore and Housing experiences to increase persistence and student success.
• Enhance resources that prepare students for transition into the workforce.
• 55% FTEIC and transfer student retention
• 30% Graduation rate (150% time)
Strategy 1: Improve academic support resources
The college has implemented a tutoring model that provides scheduled times for students who may need academic assistance. Additionally, the college has partnered with Brianfuse, a tutoring company that provides students with access to on-demand tutoring. Faculty are also very engaged with the Thunder Alerts System, a evidenced by over 1,550 Alerts submitted in the last academic term. The use of Thunder Alerts helps faculty identify those students who may need additional academic or wellness supports, and the communication flow of the Thunder Alerts helps maintain contact between students, faculty, Advisors, and Wellness Counselors.
Strategy 2: Strengthen student engagement efforts through cultural and recreational activities
on campus
The college has made significant investments supporting the cultural needs of its students. A Cultural Wellness Coordinator coordinates a variety of cultural activities throughout the academic year. The Cultural Wellness Coordinator has scheduled hand games, sweats, creating ribbon skirts and shirts, and hosting drum groups. Recreational activities are provided through the college’s Health Promotions staff. Activities such as campuswide fitness challenges, volleyball tournaments, color runs, and one-on-one fitness coaching are provided to engage students in physical activities throughout the year.
Strategy 3: Refine the IT, Bookstore and Housing experiences to increase persistence and student success
The Admissions staff have worked closely with IT to develop a smooth process for clearly communicating with students about the availability of their my.uttc.edu ID and password and email username and password. The written communications to students have also been revised so students know when their IDs and passwords will be available and how to access them.
The admissions application had been creating some confusion among applications regarding student housing. A question of the application asked if students were interested in living on campus. Applicants were under the impression that checking this box meant they were also applying for housing. This has been clarified on the application, and it is now clearly stated that there is a separate housing application required to apply for campus housing.
The campus bookstore now allows for more options to purchase physical copies of textbooks, as well as offer digital rental editions. These options provide students with their choice of type of book as well as how much they want to spend on each book. In addition, vouchers are set up for students with Pell funding to allow students to purchase books without out-of-pocket expenses.
Strategy 4: Enhance resources that prepare students for transition into the workforce
Enrollment Services is working with the College Fund on new initiatives to help graduates find meaningful employment once they complete their degree program. The college has invested in Lightcast, which is a service that provides zip-code level employment data which our Career and Transfer Specialist can use to provide current job availability information to students. The Lightcast service also provides access to thousands of job postings and will help the Career and Transfer Specialist to guide resume development based on industrystandard key words to help student craft their resumes according to what is currently being advertised in the workplace. The college has also partnered with Handshake, which will provide students with job search capabilities, explore and apply for open positions, read about career fair opportunities, and more.