The Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) has a warm-blooded approach to help stave off summer melt.
Meet CeCe, an emotional support dog who is cared for by a campus police officer and visits all the college’s four campuses and attends special events – but also has become a recruitment tool. The loveable gold retriever is among the tools used to encourage students to enroll and attend classes this fall, helping to resolve a problem that likely causes a quarter of prospective community college students to simply not show up.
The challenge is summer melt – that nettlesome problem of students who’ve shown interest or even enrolled but, for a variety of reasons, have decided not to attend as the first day of classes approaches. As one part of a campaign targeting those students who might “melt,” CeCe helps “to foster a welcoming campus environment, increasing engagement and broadening the college’s reach across platforms,” said Amy Kacerik, associate vice president for student affairs at CCRI.
“Our students are managing work schedules, caregiver responsibilities and other commitments, making it challenging to stay on top of enrollment tasks,” she said. “While CeCe was not initially brought to CCRI to drive recruitment or enrollment, she has quickly become an effective tool for student engagement and enrollment outreach. She serves as another touchpoint that helps students feel connected to CCRI before classes begin.”
CCRI and other community colleges are making a connection between students and the campus with an array of supports and nudges, hoping to combat summer melt, which is gaining attention as pressure on higher education enrollment – and some of the reasons for students to have second thoughts – both increase.
The summer melt problem
Katherine Meyer, a fellow at Brookings who researches key higher education issues like summer melt and efforts by colleges to keep students on track, says recent data show that while the numbers are hard to track, colleges overall lose about 10% to 20% of their prospective students prior to the start of the year, and community colleges may lose 27% and in some cases as high as 40%.
“Navigating the complexity of college admissions and enrollment can be a challenge for any prospective student, but it’s even harder for those planning to attend community college,” she says, noting that community college students are more likely to have less knowledge about the enrollment process and less time and support to navigate it.
“The community college staff may not be able to offer as much outreach or orientation either, and the students don’t have a trusted adviser to turn to for specific help with paperwork or to offer encouragement,” Meyer says.
Lisa Matye Edwards, vice president for student affairs for Arapahoe Community College (Colorado), says prospective students may have family or employment commitments that conflict with college office hours, juggle overlapping course schedules or simply don’t have time to manage the process. Other hurdles include overall cost, noncredit developmental programs (which can discourage students) and concerns in some cases about immigration enforcement activities, according to officials.
“If classes conflict with work schedule or childcare becomes an issue, a person who perhaps doesn’t have a connection to a college is more likely to not enroll or stay enrolled – and community colleges in the past have not had mechanisms to monitor those issues like our four-year friends,” Matye Edwards says.
She adds that open-access community colleges are typically very supportive once students enroll, but sometimes “almost allow too much freedom versus structured and clearly communicated pathways.” She believes that is changing.
A variety of challenges
Tara Zirkel, director of strategic research at EAB, has studied the issue from multiple perspectives and surveyed community college students about their enrollment experiences. She points out that at a time when college value is being questioned and the demographic cliff is looming, the issue becomes even more concerning.
“For community colleges, summer is a critical window to keep new students engaged and ensure they complete their enrollment steps before fall,” she says. “Many students, especially first-generation or those juggling work and family commitments, struggle to navigate deadlines, financial aid requirements and course registration.”
Her team’s survey of 1,000 community college students about enrollment concerns showed that:
- More than half of students seriously considered not attending.
- About a quarter said they were frustrated by the enrollment process and also by choosing a major.
- 73% said a personal interaction was extremely important and a similar number expected it to take place within 24 hours. However, only 21% received a response in that time frame, and 27% of respondents said it took more than a week. Seven percent never received a reply at all.
- Figuring out how to pay for college was significantly discouraging for another 19%.
- Family obligations were a serious concern for about a quarter of the students.
- About 18% doubted whether they even belonged in college.
Her research concluded that students want a faster, more personalized interaction and that many are “one obstacle away from opting out entirely.”
“If community college doesn’t have a solid communication plan, the student and their family may re-think the decision and feel like they are not college-ready,” Matye Edwards says. “They may not know what to do, so they miss out on critical activities like registering for class or filing the FAFSA.”
What works
Like staff at many community colleges, Kacerik and her team at CCRI try to keep prospective students engaged in a number of ways – beyond the use of CeCe. They have recently enlisted a customer relationship management platform that provides proactive, personalized, 24/7 support.
“AI virtual agents respond to student questions at any time, helping students navigate enrollment, financial aid, registration and campus services at times that work for them,” she says. “Messaging is dynamically tailored to each student’s profile, needs and progress, enabling targeted outreach that enhances engagement, persistence and successful outcomes.”
Meyer has written about the value of “nudges” and stresses that messages to students should be “timely, relevant and actionable.”
Automated systems provide students accurate information faster and reduce the load on the college staff, while potentially gathering data about where prospects find gaps in the information the college is offering, according to Zirkel, who also has written about key ways AI can be used to reduce summer melt.
“The student gets the information and can spend time with the college staff having a deeper conversation or covering other concerns,” she says.
Matye Edwards says her team contacts prospects at specific points to ask if they need assistance and how best it can be delivered. For instance, if an admitted student has not done an orientation, registered for classes or handled school financing, they might get a reminder and be offered a virtual counseling session.
CCRI also is proactive in contacting students with paid messages in a variety of platforms. Also, AI can make creating a two-year plan or class schedule easier by quickly generating several options for students and advisors to consider.
“By combining 24/7 access to information, personalized communication, course planning assistance and structured enrollment guidance, AI can help students navigate the transition into college more smoothly,” Zirkel says.
Closer ties with high schools
College officials can also reduce that burden, Zirkel says, by partnering with school counselors so that high schools have good information for their students and are prompted to encourage them to attend, even despite the counselor’s large caseloads and traditional 10-month schedule.
She says some community colleges hold special informational sessions for high school counselors that often feed into their college, ensuring they can both address some concerns and have a stronger connection to the college.
In addition, Zirkel notes that community colleges, like CCRI with CeCe, are increasingly trying to create a stronger brand and attachment to their campus with students and high school counselors, which is typically more prevalent in four-year schools.
