Do you manage your enrollment or does it manage you? One effective method of getting in front of the curve is to implement full year class scheduling for your students.

Why?

There are multiple benefits to developing and implementing a system for scheduling students for an entire year. Initially this seems an overwhelming task. However, institutions who have adopted this practice gain efficieny and effectiveness.

Students Your students will appreciate this opportunity because it allows them to plan further ahead. They begin to see the ‘bigger picture’ and how they are progressing toward their goal of graduation. They also feel more connected to your institution as a result. Students are able to see the need to focus and persist. If they are struggling in a particular course, they understand how their performance will effect their next semester and are more motivated to study and seek assistance.

Academics The academic component will appreciate the ability to plan and make teaching assignments for the entire year. While you will need to make minor adjustments to the schedule along the way, the majority of the work will be completed. This gives academic administrators additional time to secure faculty and have more time to focus on other administrative duties and instructional issues.

Advising Rather than focusing on scheduling and following up on students every semester, full-year scheduling allows advisors to do more true advising. They can focus their efforts on students who need assistance regarding choosing a major, academic support issues, resolving barriers to persistence and other proactive in retention initiatives.

Financial Aid Financial aid staff can more accurately package students for the entire academic year and appropriately disperse scholarship and loan funding. If you are working with non-traditional students, this is especially important as your financial aid personnel will be able to determine their enrollment status appropriately.

Finance By scheduling students for the entire year, you’ll be better able to project enrollment and revenue. It also provides opportunity for analysis concerning student’s average credit load and instructional costs.

An Effective Schedule Balances Student Needs with Fiscal Efficiency

Where to Start There are several documents that need to be generated, gathered and analyzed in order to build the most effective and efficient schedule. It may seem overwhelming at first, but once you have these tools, you will only need to review and ‘tweak’ them annually. In the long-run, you will save considerable time. Develop a rotation schedule. If you don’t already have a rotation schedule, you’ll need to begin here. Work with your departmental faculty and develop the ‘ideal’ rotation for each program. What classes can be taken concurrently and which classes are prerequisites to others? While you have probably already identified the ‘formal’ prerequisites, your faculty will be able to provide additional suggestions on this issue. If you allow students to attend part-time, ask your faculty to develop rotations for both full- and part-time enrollment.

Analysis. Look at last year’s schedule. How many classes did you offer last year each session? What were the class sizes…could you combine some or did you need additional sections of some courses? What are you enrollment projections this year? Are you expecting more, less or an equal number of students compared to last year? If your enrollment is likely more or less than the previous year, you’ll need to adjust the number of sections. If you are adding additional majors, you need to factor those in to your planning. What common classes do you offer across all majors? Are you adding class formats (e.g. online)? Determine your previous average class size and average credit load. These will be useful in establishing goals and developing your class schedule.

Establish goals. An effective class schedule is a major element of effective enrollment AND fiscal management. It is a delicate balance between student needs and fiscal responsibility. There are two key goals that should be established when you develop your class schedule. Average Credit Load. This is the total number of credits divided by your total enrollment. This is a great tool for determining the total number of credits you can expect to generate based on your enrollment forecast. Average Class Size. This is the total number of class sections divided by the total ‘seats’. The calculation of enrollment, average credit load and average class size will provide a baseline for the number of class sections that should be included on your schedule. These goals need to be reasonable based on your analysis of past history, enrollment projections and other factors such as programs and class delivery options.

Develop a Process. Now that you’ve developed your schedule, you need to develop a method for managing and promoting the scheduling process. Internally, you need to be sure to include a system for schedule changes. Your schedule should be reviewed regularly as students sign up for classes. Be flexible and make adjustments where needed. Establish guidelines for adding or deleting sections, waiting lists, etc.

From a student perspective, made sure you have a communication and promotion plan in place before you launch! It won’t take long for students to see the advantages, but you will need to clearly communicate not only the benefits but other important information such as time lines, deadlines and any other policies you have established.