Who are community college students?

This newsletter focuses on communicating with today's community college students. Nationally, the average age of community college students is 27 years old. But this doesn't tell the whole story. As colleges serve students in high school through their senior adult years, there's a better descriptor that captures the typical community college student: Students who lead adult lives.

These students work full-time or multiple part-time jobs to contribute to their household, provide caregiving for children or other family members, largely attend college part-time, and many are the first in their families to attend college. They may intend to transfer to a four-year college or university, learn a new skill that helps them with professional opportunities, or earn an applied degree in a sought-after field in their communities. But make no mistake—no matter the age, they are adulting.

Enrolling in college is not only a strategic decision to expand knowledge and career possibilities, it's also an emotional decision. Adulting students have so many reasons for deciding whether to invest the time, resources, and energy into education beyond high school. While the end goal may be career satisfaction, improved earnings, or the desire to see the smiles on the faces of their loved ones as they walk across the commencement stage—they're students with numerous responsibilities and limited time. They're looking for places and spaces that acknowledge their presence, their gifts, and their potential. They're looking for colleges that see their value and create educational environments that make it possible for students to work and learn. Whether a college is ready to provide that desired experience makes all the difference in moving these adulting students from interest to enrollment—and ultimately, to completion.

Adulting students are education consumers

The term “consumer” is commonly thought of as someone who spends money on goods or services. However, a consumer is simply someone with the power to choose how they spend their time, energy, and resources in ways that interest or benefit them.

In the higher education landscape, potential students may exhibit consumer behaviors by visiting a college website and looking for enrollment options. They may also look up reviews of the college on social media or ask for feedback from family and friends. Further, potential students may comparison-"shop" colleges based on schedule flexibility, tuition costs, simplicity of enrollment, or financial aid processes. They may even visit a campus and evaluate the facilities and the ease of campus navigation.

• 60 percent find colleges that offer complete programs online appealing.
• 56 percent want a flexible schedule as their top factor to increase their probability of enrollment.
• 52 percent want a community college that isn't solely focused on recent high school graduates and understands their specific circumstances.
• 43 percent prefer to start classes at any point throughout the year.

*These insights are highlighted from a national survey conducted by Noetic Consultants

Join us for this episode of Inside Out: Community Colleges Far and Wide

Where we travel around the United States to take a closer look at what's interesting and innovative in higher ed. We went far and wide to visit some amazing community colleges. We bet you've never thought about community colleges like this.

Next up, we're traveling to Yavapai College in Prescott, Arizona, where they're building and growing hopes and dreams and investing in innovation and the opportunities of the future.

The Million Dollar Community College Challenge Spotlight

What is your college's promise to adult students?

We asked this question of the colleges who applied to The Million Dollar Community College Challenge. The 10 colleges selected as finalists and ultimately as grantees took this question one step further by creating a visual representation of that promise in two minutes or less, using the resources they had available at the college. The result? Ten awesomely creative expressions that tell a compelling story by using no words at all, student testimonials, spoken word poetry, creative role-playing, heartfelt messaging, and passionate appeal.

These videos are one way these colleges tell their story, and we hope you gain some ideas on how your college can creatively and concisely help potential students see what you are all about. While we want every student to ultimately benefit from their education in numerous personal and professional ways—we know that the first step is making a connection that helps potential students see themselves and believe that what they want to achieve is possible.

How does your college communicate its promise to students who lead adult lives?

Visit the Finalist Videos to see each video

How we talk about students matters

When colleges applied for The Million Dollar Community College Challenge, we asked a wide range of questions about each college's strategic enrollment goals, marketing and outreach efforts, and of course—their big vision for improving their college's brand. We received a diverse range of strategic, creative, and thoughtful answers from hundreds of colleges—but one question stood out from the rest. We asked colleges to tell us about the students who attend their institutions, and we noticed a trend.

In many cases, institutions used aspirational language for student goals but deficit-based language when describing student needs. Only a few institutions celebrated the strengths, experiences, and perspectives that adult students brought to the college.

Identifying student needs is important in many contexts, but what happens when we start to define our student body by what they need instead of by who they are? What if we led with who they are as people and what they bring to the college environment and experience?

Technical assistance

Lumina offers technical assistance opportunities for community colleges interested in telling a better brand story.

Thank you to everyone who attended the Website Workshops and special five-part Marketing Academy. We hope you have found these opportunities beneficial and are using what you've learned to support your college's goals.

For those who missed the Website Workshops, you can find those recordings and resources listed on The Challenge webpage

Stay tuned for future announcements of technical assistance opportunities coming this fall.

We'd love to know more about your technical assistance needs. Feel free to share the topics that would help your college work to improve enrollment and re-enrollment at Challenge@Luminafoundation.org

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