On Monday, April 5, 2021 Austin Community College District (ACC) launched a new onboarding process for new students.
The migration to the Salesforce Customer Relations Management (CRM) system is a step toward the college’s ‘one front door’ philosophy. It provides all new students — from adult education to dual credit, continuing education, international, or traditional credit — a single point of entry to request information and apply. There will no longer be different sites for each different type of student.
It’s more than a new admissions application; it’s a new way of student onboarding that begins at interest and continues all the way to the first day of class.
From the student perspective, it will be easier to navigate the college’s application process and submit required documents to be admitted. The streamlined process begins with designed, dynamic questions to guide each student to the right application that meets their needs.
It also includes a portal that readily displays the student’s progress through the application process.
“It’s going to revolutionize our work in admissions and records and enrollment management,” says Dr. Melissa Curtis, ACC associate vice president of Enrollment Management. “We will have concierge service to support each student each step of the way.”
Recruitment and enrollment teams will have access to check where each student is in the process. New tools will enhance communication with students, including email outreach and direct text so students receive proactive and timely support.
The project has been a cross-college collaboration with support from Student Affairs, IT, Instruction, and the Office of Communications & Marketing.
“Enrollment is everybody’s goal,” says Dr. Curtis. “It makes sense that the whole college has a hand in making the student onboarding process engaging and interesting. This is just the beginning of strategic partnerships that will improve the student experience.”
The Enrollment Management team will host demonstrations in the coming weeks for employees to explore the process, ask questions, and learn more.