Date of Award
5-1-1987
Document Type
Dissertation - NSU Access Only
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Center for the Advancement of Education
Abstract
Broward Community College (BCC) has experienced a problem in declaring of traditional high school enrollment over the past two years. Standard articulation/recruitment agreement with local high schools had been directed at high school graduates. Because of this decline, the BCC Student Activities Department has been directed by the Vice President for Student Development to develop an aggressive student activities marketing model that selects a target market, chooses a competitive position, and develops and effective marketing mix to reach and serve the chosen market, and in so doing enhance the overall image of the College. This study determined: (1) how student activities could be utilized as a marketing strategy: (2) what techniques were used by other Florida community colleges; (3) which of twenty-three marketing items the high school students perceived as important: and (4) who on the recruitment team was the most effective in conversing with the potential applicants. The results of this study identified the elements incorporated into the student activities marketing model and determined how these elements contributed to student activities being utilized as a marketing strategy. The student activities marketing model was constructed from the results of the examination of BCC’s traditional marketing strategies and a comparison of other Florida community colleges techniques in recruitment. The basic research determined, whether or not the student activities, marketing model created a significant impact on the campus enrollment. The student activities, marketing model that had never been implemented, served as the study’s independent variable during the 1986–87 academic year. The test sample for the recruitment of high school applicants was the service area of the south campus of BCC. The student activities marketing model was evaluated by a validated questionnaire in eight South campus service area high schools in February, 1987. Six hundred fifty-eight high school seniors completed the recruitment questionnaire. This represented 31 percent of the South Campus service area high school senior class student population. It was assumed that the sample population was representative of the total population. This descriptive study measured the high school students’ perceptions of the student activities marketing model to establish which marketing items enhanced the attraction to BCC. In addition, this study established the value of the various components of the student activities marketing model that enabled the BCC administration to establish the feasibility of accessible expansion of the model to other College locations. The analysis of the data indicated how student perceptions varied on the basis of selected student characteristics and indicated how the model could be utilized to attract recruits at high school locations. The high school students listed their post graduate goals and enumerated their preferences from the twenty-three item listing of components of the student subgroupings were established by the eight local high schools and by the students’ post graduate goals. The identification of the marketing item that enhanced the attraction of the potential applicants to the BCC recruitment measured the effectiveness of the student activities marketing model components. The results indicated that the current student activities marketing model was adequate. The student handbook, one of the literature components, ranked highest in priority, with T-shirts as second, followed by BCC peer recruiters as third. Several items advertising BCC were rated high by potential applicants because of their effectiveness. These included the BCC high school announcements of painters caps. A uniform and consistent recruitment process was recommended for all BCC campuses’ service area. The marketing model should be expanded from a South Campus process to a college-wide strategy. It was further recommended that recruitment and marketing training sessions be established for all participating BCC personnel and student volunteers and that a recruitment manual be designed to act as a uniform standard for all college-wide operations. In addition, it was recommended that the model be amplified for utilization into the community to contact family members of potential applicants. The increase of these activities will necessitate additional funding that was also recommended to the College administration for inclusion in the 1987-88 academic year planning to produce increased amounts of marketing items, literature, and other operational expenditures. These essential recommendations will lead to a more effective recruitment and marketing program. These actions should also improve the student enrollment rate at the College. An analysis of recruitment, a recruitment questionnaire, and a needs survey were outlined as measurements for evaluation.