Enrollment management best practices for community colleges include this onboarding platform built with Advantage Orientation^® software and demonstrates how orientation completion measures student persistence.

Mount Wachusett Community College (MWCC) is a public, two-year college serving 29 cities and towns in North Central Massachusetts. Known as "The Mount," the college serves a diverse community of learners of all ages and stages of life who are balancing jobs and family responsibilities in addition to their academics.

Before Launching with Advantage Orientation^® software

Prior to launching "Mount 101," MWCC’s onboarding platform, the college hosted weekly in-person orientation events for all new students called Smart Start. A handful of students would attend this two-part program that included presentations provided in lecture style, followed by break-out sessions to meet with an advisor and register for classes. Producing these events was time intensive for both staff and students.

"About 40% of Smart Start attendees would walk away from the program without registering for classes at all," said Marcia Rosbury-Henne, Dean of Enrollment Management and Admissions at MWCC. "I knew we needed to do a better job preparing students, but we had a lot of naysayers who thought moving to an online platform would deter students altogether."

Since launch, over 4K new students completed orientation at a rate of over 87%, and an estimated 90% registered for classes. 

Additionally, MWCC welcomed more new students during the same time period than all other community colleges in the state. "In the future, we’ll probably add more information, make shifts in the onboarding process, and if that happens, the platform is so easy to adapt, it’s a no-brainer for us."

Onboarding Models for Community Colleges

The goal for the new online orientation experience was to increase student engagement by making orientation information more convenient without sacrificing a personal approach. Given the platform’s accessibility, intuitive navigation, and adaptable content design, completing Mount 101 was designated as a requirement.

"Because Mount 101 is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, students are completing Mount 101 at a faster rate. Students are securing their advising appointment within 48 hours and they are most often registering within a week. Mount 101 has actually deterred our summer melt numbers quite a bit."

Request this webinar recording to learn from Marcia Rosbury-Henne, Dean of Enrollment Management and Admissions. She is easily implementing enrollment management best practices with a unique onboarding experience built on Advantage Orientation^®. She discusses the strategies and decisions behind the build, takes you on a tour of the platform and answers chat questions.