During the 2016-2017 academic year, the Office of Admissions will look to develop new recruitment and communication initiatives to promote college awareness. Our focus areas will be the following:

• Integrate Technology into communication and enrollment plan (Strategic Plan Priority 1a)
• Develop and maintain relationships with local high school faculty and counselors (Strategic Plan Priority 1c)
• Enhance visibility with local community organizations and adults markets through strategic marketing and recruitment efforts. (Strategic Plan 1c)
• Continue to find ways to increase conversion & yield with CCHS and Non-credit GED Programs (Strategic Plan 1c, 2a & 2d)
• Increased admissions visibility at the Newburgh Campus (full-time)

These initiatives will coincide with the colleges strategic plan and the new SUNY Excels.

Technology

As the high school graduation rates continue to decline, The Office of Admissions understands the importance of creating new mechanisms to communicate with our students. During the new academic year, the Office of Admissions will look to implement new communication methods in our recruitment and marketing process which includes the use of the following:

• Live chat component on admissions website
• Text messaging to our prospective students
• Expansion of accepted student portal 
• Creation of check application status in portal
• Personalized messaging through phone calls
• Interactive admission instructional  video's (English & Spanish)

These mechanisms will prove useful, especially for students who lack transportation to the Newburgh or Middletown Campus. However, we cannot discount the importance of customizing the enrollment experience. This spring, the Office of Admissions will introduce our tel-communications plan. This plan consists of personal phone calls made by our current students to those looking to enroll for Fall 2016. The content of these phone calls will range based on where the student is in the enrollment process. Many of the conversations will be based on the following:

• General questions about SUNY Orange
• Reminder to take placement test
• Personal invite to Incoming Student Day
• Invitation to attend a New START workshop

The use of technology and personal phone calls in our recruitment plan will be implemented and executed based on the basic principles and policies set fourth in the NACAC admissions best practices manual.

Relationships with local guidance and faculty community:

The Office of Admissions has continued to develop and maintain relationships with the local guidance community by offering on campus informational events geared towards introducing new degree programs. We will expand upon that by offering events on and off campus to our local high school faculty. This will include the following:

• SUNY Orange faculty visits to high schools
• Fall 2016 Guidance & Faculty Luncheon
• Program specific Open Houses
• Develop high school faculty professional development program hosted by SUNY Orange

Non-traditional Marketing and Recruiting

With the declining high school graduation population, the Office of Admissions will be looking to solidify its marketing and recruiting of adult students. We will explore recruitment opportunities by reaching out and developing relationships with the following organizations:

• Orange Works
• Public Libraries
• Home School Organizations
• BOCES GED and Youth GED Programs
• VA Offices
• Stewart Airforce Base
• West Point
• Orange County Chamber of Commerce

CCHS Initiative & Non-Credit Programs:

During the 2016-2017 academic year, the Office of Admissions would like to extend the opportunity to collaborate and promote SUNY Orange to CCHS high schools students and those in non-credit program, particularly the GED program, with Continuing Education. The plan is to offer special programming that allows these populations to see what is offered here at the college. Special programming will include the following:

• CCHS Open House
• Instant Admission Program for these populations
• Spend-A-Day Program - Opportunity for students to sit in on a class here at SUNY Orange

Through these promotional events, we would like to increase our conversion and yield of these populations for Spring, Summer and Fall 2017.

Increase Newburgh Admission Visibility

The Associate Director of Admissions spends roughly 3 days a week on the Newburgh campus. This has allowed us to have constant communication regarding admission policies and procedures with our prospective students, faculty & staff of the Newburgh Campus. This upcoming academic year, we would like to increase that presence by having a staff member at Newburgh full-time. The plan is to create a functional work-space that allows the admissions representative to speak with students regarding their academic interests here at SUNY Orange.

Admission Student Learning Outcomes: Students of SUNY Orange should be able to-

1. Understand the SUNY Orange application and enrollment process required for course registration.
2. Understand the differences between transfer-track programs (AA and AS) and career-track programs (AAS)
3. Able to successfully complete online application
4. Understand the health profession application and review process
5. Be familiar with the academic /student services resources available at SUNY Orange County Community College
6. Be familiar with opportunities for on-campus engagement in activities (i.e. athletics, clubs and organizations, student government and cultural events)
7. Understand the financial aid process, tuition and fees and payment responsibilities
8. Understand the academic responsibility inside and outside the classroom

Re-Cap of 2015-2016 Admissions & Recruitment Plan

• Expand phone call campaign that would help prospective students understand the enrollment process. This phone call campaign will have alumni high school students reach out to prospective students from their area high school to see if they have enrollment questions. This plan has been implemented for Spring 2016 and will target our Fall 2016 class. Updated information will be provided once we get through the fall registration cycle. 
  
  
• Continue to develop and enhance relationships with local community organizations through the admission non-traditional recruitment program. During the 2015-2016 academic year, there was a shift with our CTEA grant, particularly focusing on retention. The Office of Admissions will look to get funding for a recruiter position. This person would focus solely on developing and maintaining relationships with the local community.
  
  
• Analyze our large scaled admission events (i.e. Incoming Students Day) and the effectiveness of the program in the enrollment process - In Spring 2015, the Office of Admissions saw our attendance rise for our Incoming Student Day Programs at the Middletown and Newburgh Campus.
  
  
• Showcase New Media Program through admission sponsored New Media Fall Open House. In Fall of 2015, the Office of Admissions hosted a New Media Open House. In total, we had roughly 30 families that attended the program. Those who attended had a meaningful experience with applying for fall 2016 admissions. 
  
  
• Continue to explore Saturday placement test offerings. The Office of Admissions, in conjunction with the testing center, held two spring and two fall placement testing events. During these testing dates, we saw an average of 10-15 students attend. 
  
  
• Look to enhance the new health profession GPA review policy. Based on feedback from faculty and staff in the Health Profession Programs, we have tweaked our GPA review policy to create a more transparent process. This process is now available on our website, which gives our students a clear indication on how we review their applications. 
  
  
• Partner with academic faculty to explore the opportunity for yield events: i.e. Spend A Day programs. Although we have not completed a Spend A Day Program to date, we will look to partner with departments who are looking to increase enrollment in their program to pilot this type of event.
  
  
• Increase Newburgh Admission presence to three days a week. Our Associate Director, Laura Morcone has established a presence on the Newburgh campus every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. We will look to find avenues to increase this presence moving forward. 
  
  
• Enhance communication with prospective students to ensure eligibility for our New Start Workshop. This will be done with email, print and phone communication. During the 2015-2016 academic year, the Admissions Office has continued to enhance communication with prospective students. This includes phone calls, emails through Fire Engine Red and use of technology (accepted student portal). We will have conclusive data on the effectiveness when we complete the fall 2016 registration cycle. 
  
  
• Expand Student Ambassador Program Our Assistant Director, Jarrett Johnson, has been instrumental in revitalizing our Ambassador program. Through funding from the foundation, the Ambassadors are paid students who work for the Admissions Office on a number of tasks. This includes office mailings, clerical work and tele-communication with students regarding their enrollment process. 
  
  
• Implement and create a dynamic Accepted Student check-list in the portal. This spring, IT created and implemented our Accepted Student Portlet. Students can now visit the Student Academics Tab in their MySUNYOrange account to view their enrollment status in live time. For instance, if a student completes the placement test, they will be prompted to register for their New Start.