For Release July 1
State's Universities to Work Together in Changing, Improving Enrollment Management Services
PIERRE--South Dakota's universities are now firmly on course toward significant changes in enrollment-related services. At its meeting in Brookings last week, the Board of Regents set in motion a plan to reshape the state university system's approach to recruiting and admissions, registration and records, financial aid, and student billing, with an eye toward greater efficiency and improved service to students.
The plan, offered by a university system team representing administrators, faculty, and students, calls for the consolidation and automation of a number of enrollment-related activities at a single Enrollment Services Center, a move which is expected to bring net savings of nearly $1.4 million for Fiscal Year 1998. The savings are to be reinvested in a new student information system designed to increase and improve information available to students, faculty, and staff.
The center will combine under one roof a number of transaction-oriented functions related to enrollment that are currently being handled at each university. These activities include the processing of applications for admissions and financial aid, as well as production and distribution of student bills and maintenance of registration information. In addition, the team is recommending that the Enrollment Services Center establish and administer a South Dakota Payment Plan to aid students and their families in budgeting for and paying college bills. Center staffing and operations are to be funded from consolidation savings, and it will be advised in its activities by a systemwide committee.
"The team found that it made sense to consolidate the universities' efforts in areas that are transaction-focused," said Mark Lee, Dakota State University's Vice-President for Business Affairs and chair of the team recommending the changes. "This approach meets the team's dual objective of maximizing efficiency while maintaining and enhancing service to students," Lee continued.
Lee pointed out, though, that a number of enrollment-oriented activities will be retained at the campus level, where students will receive individualized service. These include counseling and advising on academic programs and financial aid, as well as contact related to housing assignments, food service plans, and institutional scholarships.
By dividing the range of enrollment management functions and combining many of them in a single location, South Dakota is both following national trends and blazing trails of its own, according to Board of Regents Executive Director Dr. Robert T. Tad Perry. "A number of universities around the nation already look beyond their own walls and contract with outside entities to handle activities such as billing and financial aid. Our universities are tapping into this basic concept, but will be working together as a system to provide this service. It is an innovative solution based on ideas that have worked elsewhere. "
A significant part of the initial savings from the changes will be invested in a new student information computer system, which will be integrated into the reorganized enrollment service structure and brought on line over the next two years. According to Lee, the combination of the restructuring and the implementation of the new information system will mean more and better access to information for students and faculty. "With the new system, faculty members will be able to enter grades and check the progress of students they are advising right from their own desks. Students will have the ability to check their billing record, access unofficial transcripts, complete their registration, monitor their academic progress, and more from university or personal computers or via telephone. It will mean some more responsibility for students and faculty, but it will also mean dramatically improved access to important information at their convenience," Lee continued.
The remaining savings from enrollment services reorganization, as well as any future savings, will be reinvested by the universities to enhance academic programs consistent with the Board of Regents' reinvestment initiatives.
Accepting the committee's proposal on behalf of the Board of Regents, Board President Karl Wegner of Sioux Falls stated, "Higher education, like other public services, has been asked by policymakers to take a hard look at how it does business and to promote efficiency. The enrollment services team was charged with achieving a cost reduction breakthrough while improving service to students, a goal that has been met. Not all of the choices were easy, and the team deserves a great deal of credit and praise for their work."
In order to support the implementation of the new student information system, the Enrollment Services Center is expected to be operational by late next summer.