VCCS Redesign of Student Onboarding Process

As I mentioned in last week’s Zoom office hours, the VCCS convened a task force—co-chaired by Germanna Community College President Janet Gullickson and Blue Ridge Community College President John Downey—that reviewed and offered recommendations on changes to the student onboarding process within the system. The task force has engaged hundreds of individuals from across the system, including NOVA representatives, in providing feedback on how VCCS can improve the process from initial student inquiry through initial enrollment. The group looked at steps that involve recruitment, admissions, financial aid, advising and more, and their work was also informed by student voices, through focus groups convened by VCCS.

The recommendations from this committee were advanced to the chancellor in December and accepted at the February meeting of the Chancellor’s Advisory Council of Presidents (ACOP). Click here to view the VCCS Recommendations and Final Onboarding Process Redesign.

Overall, the goal of these recommendations is to streamline the process, making it easier for prospective students to navigate their enrollment from initial inquiry to registration. To that end, one recommendation is that all VCCS colleges establish a new position, College Enrollment Navigator (a draft job description is included with the recommendations in Appendix B). Smaller colleges might have one Enrollment Navigator, whereas larger colleges like NOVA would identify at least one Enrollment Navigator per campus. Our goal is to have NOVA’s Enrollment Navigators in place in time for the fall registration process.

This new role will serve as the primary point of contact for prospective/new students and will provide guidance and direction to support them from the moment of first inquiry. The Enrollment Navigators and the additional supports identified in the recommendations will help our colleges meet the new expectations for response time: 24 business hours to respond to prospective student inquiries and 48 business hours to register students.

Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success Michelle Brown-Nevers is leading NOVA’s implementation of the 12 recommendations. None of this will happen overnight and each of the recommendations touches on multiple offices and areas. As the work progresses, Dr. Brown-Nevers will reach out to engage you and keep you informed, and I hope you will become involved in this important effort to improve the onboarding experience from the perspective of our students.