Office of Enrollment Management
April 2006 Spring Edition

A Note From Joel Robinson

What's Happening:
Admissions
Student
  Financial
  Assistance
Registrar

Retirement
Profile
Bob Sprague

New Faces & Promotions

Dates of Interest

This has been an exciting time for Enrollment Management at NKU.  All previous enrollment records were broken this past fall when Northern enrolled more than 14,000 total students.  At the same time, the University welcomed the most academically prepared freshmen class in school history as a result of the newly adopted freshmen admission standards.  Most campuses experience enrollment declines when implementing new admission standards, but due to a University wide effort to recruit and retain students the picture at NKU is much brighter.  To support these efforts the Office of Registrar, the Student Financial Assistance Office and the Office of Admissions worked diligently to encourage both current and prospective students to enroll for the fall term.  These offices (along with many departments across the campus) sent constant communication to students in order to prompt them to register for classes.

The staff in Enrollment Management is hopeful that these positive enrollment trends will continue.  The Office of Admissions has created a sophisticated recruitment plan that took three years to fully implement.  Students are now being recruited early in their high school career through a combination of email, paper mail and telecounseling efforts.  So far, Admissions has received a record number of applications for the Fall of 2006 as a result of these new efforts.  The Office of the Registrar recently launched a new website which is much more user-friendly for students and the NKU community.  The early comments from students about the new website are very positive.  The Student Financial Assistance Office has received a record number of scholarship applications and is working jointly with the Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) process to develop a new scholarship competition for next year.  The processing staff in the three enrollment management offices are doing a terrific job keeping up with the increased volume as a result of these positive admission and enrollment trends.

The new SEM process at NKU is really taking shape.  A cross-divisional team worked throughout the 2004-2005 school year to develop a comprehensive SEM plan.  The SEM plan includes several elements including an enrollment analysis, enrollment targets, enrollment strategies and a new SEM structure.  Through this new structure the SEM Action Team has been meeting this academic year to implement the SEM plan and the strategies included in the plan.  So far, great progress has been made.  If you would like to see the SEM plan (or sections that may relate to your area within NKU) please contact Casey Prather at X5825.

The staff in Enrollment Management is excited about the Fall of 2006.  We are looking forward to strong enrollments and another stellar freshmen class.  As always, we welcome your suggestions and hope to partner with everyone involved in recruitment and retention efforts at NKU.

                                    What's Happening....Admissions                                  

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The fall recruitment season is now behind us.  NKU representatives completed visits to over 350 high schools, community colleges and participated in the first annual KCTCS recruitment fair calendar. New territories have been established in Columbus, Indianapolis and eastern and western Kentucky. 

Our processing department has been working hard to keep up with a record number of applications for admissions.  As of April 17, 2006 we are up 582 freshmen applications which represent an increase of 17% over last year.

The Office of Admissions is currently involved in the “realization” phase of SAP Campus Management software implementation.  We are successfully on our way to being ready for our “go-live” early fall 2006. 

 Recruitment Initiatives for Fall 2006

• The Office of Admissions has significantly increased direct mail and email communication to prospective students and parents beginning with the sophomore year of high school.
• So far this year we have promoted academic programs and student life opportunities to over 2,000 visitors through Black and Gold Days, individual and Norse Day Programs.
• Northern Crossroads programs will be held May 2, 2006 and July 11, 2006.  This program is being held in collaboration with Educational Outreach to allow interested transfer and adult students to visit campus and explore academic options.

 We are pleased to announce the following initiatives to develop interest in NKU:

 Recruitment Initiatives

Scholarships-

• Black and Gold Scholar – This program is designed to attract high school students with outstanding leadership qualities from targeted areas where NKU has seen little enrollment in the past. A $2,000 tuition award is available. To qualify, the student must be a resident of Kentucky, must have an ACT score of at least 23, must have a B average, must be a first time freshman at NKU in 2006, and must have submitted the scholarship and admission applications by February 1.
   
• Achievers Scholarship Program – This program is designed for non-resident first-time freshmen who have an ACT score of 23+ (or equivalent SAT score) and minimum 3.0 GPA. As a non-competitive scholarship, all students who apply on time and meet the requirements will receive a renewable $3,000 scholarship towards tuition.
   
• Expansion of the Educational Diversity Scholarship – This program is designed to attract students that come from diverse backgrounds. The qualified students will be awarded full tuition and/or room and board costs. To qualify, the student must have a B average in high school, be a first time freshman to NKU, must submit a scholarship and admission application by the stated deadline, and they must also submit an essay describing how they feel they can bring diversity to NKU.  This opportunity helped support the record setting increase in diversity applications this year up 30% in African American and 50% in Latino/Hispanic.   

 Recruitment by phone- 

• Telecounseling Initiative - The Telecounseling initiative enables current NKU students to make personal connections and timely communication with prospective NKU students.  A group of 12 current NKU students, who have demonstrated knowledge of the university and the ability to engage prospective students and their parents, make outbound calls to prospective students’ homes on Monday and Wednesday evenings (4 – 9 p.m.) during the fall and spring semesters.  There is also a limited Telecounseling effort during the summer term. 

The Telecounseling program covers a range of functions including: surveying, booking students for visitation programs, qualifying interest level, notification of missing credentials, congratulating students on acceptance and scholarship awards.  Telecounselors complete approximately 20,000 calls each year with the goal to lower mailing costs, increase the number of campus visitors and to create a personal relationship with prospective students and their parents wherein they view NKU as attentive to their needs.

Guidance Counselor Advisory Board

Seventeen High School Guidance Counselors from selected areas in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana are currently partnering with our office to meet twice a year to give their professional insight on topics related to the recruitment of students at NKU.  This team of counselors provides information that benefits the students they serve, while solidifying the relationship between High School Counselors and NKU Admissions staff.  Topics for discussion include, but are not limited to, scholarships, recruitment brochures, open houses, acceptance letters, residency issues and reciprocity.   

2007 Recruitment Initiatives

• Academic representatives will be invited to join us for our successful rising senior programs called Welcome Wednesdays.   We are anticipating that over 350 students and their guests will attend to explore all that NKU has to offer the summer prior to their senior year. Welcome Wednesday Dates: May 31, June 7, June 21, July 12, July 19, August 2, August 9 
• The Office of Admissions is pleased to host the Whitney M. YOUNG Scholars July 9-21^st for two weeks for an academic enrichment conference.

                      What's Happening....Student Financial Assistance                     

Leah Stewart, Director of Student Financial Assistance

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During the 2005-06 academic year, the Office of Student Financial Assistance reached record breaking numbers in federal aid applicants and the receipt of scholarship applicants for the 2006-07.  Through March 31, 2006, we experienced a 3% increase in federal aid applicants compared to the same time last year.  We also experienced a 48% increase in scholarship applications.  With the increased number of federal aid applicants, the processing team worked hard to manage the work load while developing proactive measures to communicate to aid applicants with incomplete financial aid statuses. Our processing team should be commended for managing such large volumes.  Although we are busy with processing, we did not let that stop us from taking on new challenges.

2006 New Financial Aid Awareness Programs 

Beginning in the fall semester, the Financial Assistance customer service team extended offers to conduct financial presentations to all University 101 classes.  Our professional staff presented at a total of 10 University 101 class sessions reaching nearly 200 students. Through the development of our “new” comprehensive financial aid awareness programs, the Financial Assistance staff had an opportunity to speak to over 2,000 students and parents. From July 2005 through March 2006, staff participated in 39 events mainly on-campus, but some off-campus events for the sole purpose of educating students, parents and the university community about financial aid.

The spring 2006 financial aid awareness programs focused on topics such as: financial aid options, debt management and staff also assisted students and parents in completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).  As part of our out-reach efforts, our office also volunteered at College Goal Sunday. This is an annual event sponsored by our state financial aid association that encourages students and parents to complete the FAFSA. With the success of this new initiative, the staff is currently working on plans to continue sponsoring financial aid programs and also enhancing our programs to best meet the demands and needs of our students and parents. If faculty or staff are interested in having our staff present on financial aid to a class or organization, we ask that you contact the Office of Student Financial Assistance.

New Financial Aid Publication – Financing Your Future

The Office of Student Financial Assistance realized that in addition to the one-on-one assistance provided to students and parents as they visit, call or email our office, we decided to publish a booklet that outlines financial aid in a step-by-step process. Financing Your Future is a publication that explains the financial aid process from initial application to the delivery of aid.  In addition to students receiving this booklet as they visit our office, it is used by the Admission’s Office in mailings to prospective students. This publication can also be found on our Web site.

Scholarships

As previously mentioned, we experienced a 48% increase in scholarship applications.  Not only did we experience an increase in applicants, we noticed that the students’ test scores and GPA’s exceeded those of all previous years. Given the number of scholarship applicants and academic credentials of the students, our office along with Enrollment Management worked to maximize our scholarship dollars by increasing the number of partial scholarship offers.  By doing this, it allowed more students to receive scholarship offers than ever in NKU’s history. We are very excited about being able to offer more institutional assistance to academically talented students.

Scholarship Comparison
2005-2006 & 2006-2007

SIGMA

As part of the PRISM project, our office is charged with the implementation of SIGMA.  To date, we remain on schedule of meeting our “go-live” date of January – March 2006.  We have successfully met all of the demands of blueprinting and are currently working on testing and pre-configuration of the system.  We are confident that this new financial aid system will allow our office to process more records in an efficient and accurate manner.

                                     What's Happening....Registrar                                     

Kim Taylor, University Registrar

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Acceptance of D & F Grades: An Update

Beginning Fall 2004, NKU began accepting and including in the grade point average calculation transfer grades of D and F for new undergraduate students. New students will now have an NKU grade point average (NKU course work only) and a cumulative grade point average (all transfer work and NKU course work).  Undergraduate students new to NKU Fall 2004 and forward will be identified on screen 007 in SIS+.  You will continue to see a cumulative grade point average on screen 118 for all students.  However, be aware that for undergraduate students enrolling prior to Fall 2004, a cumulative grade point average includes only NKU work and for undergraduate students enrolling Fall 2004 forward, a cumulative grade point average includes NKU work and all transfer work.  Also, you can still find a grade point average for transfer work on screen 144.  A new screen (N18) was developed in SIS+ to hold the grade point average calculation for NKU work only.

Other items to be aware of when working with students new to NKU fall 2004 and after with transfer work. 

Transfer work received from transfer institutions on the quarter system. We have problems with grade point averages because of system functionality relative to decimal places.   

NKU does not accept a grade point average from a transfer institution. Transfer work from another institution is entered into our transfer equivalency system one course entry at a time. There should be no expectation that the grade point average based on transfer work once official transcripts have been evaluated will match the grade point average on the transcript from the sending institution.

 Transfer work is accepted based on NKU policies.

A problem that will persist is inadequacies of official transcripts from sending institutions. Examples are a poorly defined key or none at all and the lack of clarification on the transcript itself (course repeats, drops or withdrawals, etc.)

 Difficulties in accepting and evaluating for credit bulk transfer work. 

The Office of the Registrar and Transfer Services is currently reviewing records of transfer students new to NKU 041 forward to correct inconsistencies in processing.   

As always, please contact the Office of the Registrar or Transfer Services with any questions or concerns you may have. 

Contacting the Registrar's Office

For your convenience, please be aware that the main number to the Registrar's Office Service Center (5556) is recognized as the primary contact number for this office by students, both internally and externally. In order to better serve the campus community overall, please contact the Office of the Registrar at any of the individual numbers listed in Find-It! for assistance.

College Realignment

An issue the Office of the Registrar continues to work with as a result of college realignment is the copy over of degree plans.  All substitutions and waivers are documented in SIS+, so when a student changes his/her major, those same substitutions and waivers should carry forward to the new degree program.  While an automated procedure exists for this, many degree plans of students impacted by the college realignment did not copy over causing issues for students and advisors.  Please feel free to call this office if you have any questions about this. 

Fall 2006

The Office of the Registrar will continue its efforts to encourage students to register for summer and fall 2006, utilizing the NKU student all listserv to deliver reminders, the PhoneTree software to deliver reminders to certain groups of students beginning with classification groups, postcard reminders to students and posters all over campus.  Also, the academic departments have been provided information on reports available for identifying students by academic department, major, classification, advisor and other selection possibilities, for the purpose of communicating with undergraduates to encourage them to register during priority registration.     

New Student Clearinghouse Services Available

DegreeVerify – The National Student Clearinghouse provides degree verification for Northern Kentucky University to employers, background search firms and recruiters.

EnrollVerify – This service enables Northern Kentucky University to refer any commercial enrollment verification to the Clearinghouse for secure, immediate response.

   Reporting Students for Non-Attendance

In order to comply with the Department of Education regulations concerning the disbursement of student financial aid,
NKU is responsible for identifying students who enroll and never attend class.

To assist with this effort, the Office of the Registrar will provide updated class rosters for each semester and session. If a
student appears on your class roster and has never attended, please use Norse Express to report students for non
attendance.  The student will be dropped with no financial (tuition will not be charged for the dropped class) or academic
liability.  The system will be available for reporting students for non-attendance for summer 2006 and fall 2006 according
to the following schedule.

New website for the Office of the Registrar

Check out our new website developed by Janis Reynolds, Kathy Steffen and Beth Vasquez.  It includes a GPA calculator that was developed by Kerry Watson in IT.  Thanks to Kerry and to Jim Nilson for all of your hard work!

Diplomas for May Graduates

Diplomas for May Graduates will be mailed by June 15, 2006 to those graduates who do not have a HOLD on their account.

Schedule of Classes

Beginning with the fall 2006 semester, the printed Schedule of Classes will no longer be available.  Complete listings of course offerings may be found by visiting the online Schedule of Classes located at:  http://webapps.nku.edu/class_sched/.  To further assist students with registration and offer guidance, the Office of the Registrar is very pleased to announce the creation of a Registration Guide, which will be available each semester.  This guide will contain information on advising, admission, orientation, tuition and fees, financial assistance, registration, academic calendars, Norse Express and much more.  Additional information on the completion and release of the Registration Guide will be coming shortly.

Student Financial Assistance

William Bradley – Will graduated from Lindsey Wilson College in May of 2003 with a BA in Human Services and Counseling.  He worked as a Admission Counselor for Lindsey Wilson College from 2003 to 2005.  He now works in the Office of Student Financial Assistance as a Financial Aid coordinator.  Will provides one-on-one assistance to students and parents about financial aid and is responsible for advising students concerning various aid programs.

April Parsons – April has worked in the Office of Student Financial Assistance for over six years.  Previously, she served as a financial aid coordinator in the client services and outreach division.  In January she was promoted to the Assistant Director of Compliance position.  Her goal is to focus on compliance within the office of Student Financial Assistance and key offices on campus that deal with federal rules and regulations.  She is looking forward to learning more about the University and she considers this new role to be a great challenge.

Leah Stewart – Leah is the new Director or Student Financial Assistance, although she is not new to Northern Kentucky University.  Leah’s NKU roots date back to the 1980’s.  She is an NKU alumni, earning her BA in Political Science and Government and her Master’s in Educational Foundations from UC.  Upon earning her BA degree, Leah remained at NKU as an Admissions Counselor.  She brings over 18 years of Higher Education experience, mainly in financial aid, and is absolutely thrilled to be back home! 

Sherry Thomes –  Sherry is a December 1998 NKU graduate.  She has worked in the Office of Student Financial Assistance for over 2 years.  Initially she was hired to work as an information data clerk and also served briefly as the administrative assistant to the Director.  In January, 2006 she was promoted to her current position of Financial Assistance Coordinator.  Sherry is extremely excited about her new position, as she has always enjoyed working with and assisting students. 

Registrar

Inna Pylyayeva – Inna works in the Registrar's office as the Business Systems coordinator.  She will be working on student records in the SAP implementation project.  Prior to her current role, she worked as a Programmer Analyst for the Information Technology Department here at NKU. Inna has a BA in Education and a Master's Degree in Business Administration, specializing in Information Systems. She is excited to be a part of the Enrollment Management Team!

Maria Riebling – Maria started out as a student employee in the Registrar's Office more than a year ago and was offered a full time position as an enrollment management data counselor beginning November 1, 2005.  The transition from student employee to full time staff has been a smooth one.  Maria is still working towards a degree in Speech Communication and hopes to graduate in Spring 2007.

After 27 years of commitment and dedication to Northern Kentucky University, Bob Sprague, Director of the Office of Student Financial Assistance, retired on August 31, 2005.  Bob came to NKU in July 1978 where he began as Coordinator of Records in Student Financial Assistance.  He then moved to an Assistant Director position in 1979 and finally to the Director position in 1984. 

Bob has witnessed first-hand the growth of NKU from 5,000 students to 14,000 students.  He has seen the growth of the University not just through enrollment but also through the many buildings constructed over the  years.  When asked what he enjoyed most about NKU he replied “the challenge a new institution offers and the people who are involved within the university”.  Bob is most proud of laying the foundation for the Office of Student Financial Assistance and implementing the first automated financial assistance system in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. 

Helping students achieve their goals was very rewarding for Bob throughout his career.  He also enjoyed “resolving challenging issues that arise in financial assistance and working with the excellent Financial Aid staff at NKU”.  The most challenging aspect of his former position was being able to accomplish the university’s mission on limited resources.

On his free time, Bob enjoys traveling, playing golf, and studying Military History.  He holds a Master of Arts degree and held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Army.  When asked what he misses most about NKU now that he has retired, Bob said “undoubtedly I miss the people who work at NKU as well as conquering the daily challenges within the office".  Bob, we wish you all the best in your retirement!