Every student expects easy access to community college services, no matter where or how old they are. Adult students are always pressed for time; they constantly juggle competing priorities, balancing their education with work and family demands. Additionally adults, just like younger students, have become so comfortable with using technology and services like Amazon that they expect the same experience from their education providers.
In her article on The EvoLLLution, Kim Wagner, Executive Director of Student Financial Services and Auxiliary Enterprises at Elgin Community College, explained that changing consumer expectations are changing higher education norms.
“The 21st-century consumer wants convenience, immediate customer support and quick purchases,” she wrote. “These truths also relate to students in higher education. In the last few years, colleges and universities have felt the push to respond to these consumer expectations as well.”
One feature common to all eCommerce leaders is self-service options, and community college leaders should consider introducing this into their ecosystem. Self-service gives students control over how and when they engage with the college, and look for that convenience when seeking out postsecondary options. Otherwise, for want of better management of their time, they may choose another education provider.
Before we talk about how you can enable self-service options for your students, let’s explore what “self service” actually means. Self service simply means putting your students in the driver’s seat and letting them manage their own experience.
“College students look for self-service capabilities in a variety of areas,” continued Wagner. “They want to select their program of study or major, plan when they can take these courses in the future, register for the current term, and pay for their outstanding charges. Students expect a “portal” environment where they can customize their view settings, check their student email, and search for college policy information in one online area.”
But, helping students accomplish this feat has been seldom easy. You will need to do a few things to make this happen.
First of all, you will need to acknowledge that your students are your customers and they like to be treated as such. They have choices and unless you prove to them that you are worth their time, they will walk away.
“The concept of student as “customer” is an oft-debated topic, but the reality is that no matter what semantics we use, students have choices. The choice to pursue education is a substantial investment of time, money, and emotion. And for that investment, students expect a return. To attract and retain students, we need to prove, on an ongoing basis, that we’re worth their loyalty,” said Lesley Nichols, Executive Director of Professional Studies at Emerson College, in her article published on The EvoLLLution.
Students are dependent on their colleges for their personal and professional growth, but colleges are dependent on their students too. According to Chris Busatamante, former President of Rio Salado College, a customer-centric culture is essential to serving those students effectively. “What is most needed is to listen and focus on the needs of students. Then, build programs and staffing around those needs, remove barriers, and provide the support needed for them to achieve their goals, he said. “Too often, higher education institutions place their own needs first and then hope that students will come, based on the schedules and programs they choose to offer.”
So, what does it take to re-focus around the needs of students? Once you’ve gotten a clear sense of what your students are looking for from a postsecondary experience, it’s critical to introduce the technologies designed to meet these needs.
If you’re a community and technical college leader, you need to simplify your systems and make them intuitive so that ordering for services and registering for courses and programs becomes easy for your students. If they find it difficult to navigate through your website, then they’ll end up losing a lot of time that could have been better utilized elsewhere—either on their studies or on a competing priority.
Lisa Slavin, Assistant Vice President of Enrollment Management at Massachusetts Bay Community College, highlighted the importance of an intuitive, student-centric website in her interview with The EvoLLLution.
“Schools need to consider the website as part of their customer service experience,” she said. “No matter where they are in the student funnel—whether they’re looking on the website for the first time, enrolling, paying their deposit or checking financial aid—the student has to have a positive customer service experience.”
Thankfully, there are solutions available to help you overcome these barriers. The Destiny One Student Lifecycle Management platform lets you provide your students with a rich self-service experience—one that puts them in charge. With Destiny One’s self-service portal, your students can engage with your college on their own terms and manage their own experience. Rather than having to come to campus and waiting in line for service, you can empower your students to perform most bureaucratic tasks simply and easily online; whether it’s requesting transcripts, reviewing historical financial information, getting receipts and much more. Students can also start filling in course applications, save them to submit when they’re ready, drop courses and track their progress towards credentials, without having to take up valuable staff time for help.
The result: an exceptional experience for your students. The clear focus on delivering a student-centric experience facilitates their learning and will ensure they feel confident about their decision to enroll in the first place. What’s more, given the importance of lifelong learning in the modern workforce, a great experience at your college makes it a first choice for learners down the road.
And, of course, you benefit too! You will accomplish your mission of providing better educational access and opportunities to your community. Your staff efficiency will improve; no longer required to track and answer mundane queries that can be resolved by your students on their own, they will have time to focus on higher-value work and spend more time with your students.
Any time you can empower your students with self-service capabilities, you will not only be able to meet their expectations and transform their experience, but also gain efficiencies and free up bandwidth to focus on areas of institutional growth.
Are you interested in exploring this topic further? Read our paper and learn more about facilitating student self-service using modern technology.