Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Stumpf, Arthur D.

Committee Member

Davis, James E.

Committee Member

King, Stephanie B.

Committee Member

Wiseman, William M.

Date of Degree

12-11-2015

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Major

Community College Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Education

Department

Department of Educational Leadership

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which enrollment management exists within the 15 community colleges in Mississippi. This study also obtained specific information on enrollment management implementation, as well as the benefits and barriers to that implementation. Analysis of the data collected in this study indicated the five major findings. First, enrollment management concepts and practices have been implemented to some extent within the 13 community colleges surveyed. This was evident by the use of the word “enrollment” within several of the titles of participants that were surveyed. Another enrollment practice revealed was the enrollment management structure used by the majority of the community colleges that participated in the study. The majority of the colleges reported either using the coordinator model, in which a midlevel manager oversees enrollment management, or the division model, in which a vice-president is responsible for overseeing enrollment management. The study also revealed that the majority of the community colleges reporting did not have a long-term enrollment plan in place. Only a small percentage of the reporting institutions reported using any type of formal plan, and an even smaller percentage reported having a long-term enrollment management plan in place. Second, all reporting institutions reported that improved graduation rates and student retention had been the received benefits of their current enrollment management structure. Third, all reporting institutions reported understaffing and limited financial resources as a barrier to effectively implementing enrollment management within their institution. The fourth major finding was that of the strategies listed within the survey, 100% reported using an increased collaboration with high schools as a strategy to increase enrollment. This strategy was followed in frequency by the expansion of online courses and the presidents placing an emphasis on the importance of enrollment management. The fifth major finding was that the majority of the reporting institutions felt that their current enrollment management structure had met or exceeded their enrollment management expectations.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/19025

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