Competitive Working Group
Executive Summary
In their preliminary discussions, the members of the Competitive Issues Working Group developed plans to determine what perceptions students, alumni, and members of the community have about the College of Charleston and what institutions may be its competitors. There were discussions about how the media, persons of authority within discrete communities, and experiences of friends and family members shape those perceptions, especially those related to social life, minority relations, academic reputation, housing, tuition costs, and the availability of scholarship support.
One of the tools that the working group used in order to gather information is the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's survey of first-time freshmen at the College of Charleston. The typical first-time, full-time College of Charleston student is eighteen or nineteen years old. The College's students differ from those at the typical four-year public college in several ways. The College's percentage of students earning a B average in high school is higher (73% versus 58%) than that of competing institutions. The College has more students who plan to seek a graduate degree (83% versus 67%) than do competing institutions. Compared to other institutions, the College of Charleston enrolls more Caucasian students (90% versus 75%) and fewer students who attended public high schools (72% versus 89%) .The College also enrolls more students who receive support from their families (88% versus 80%), fewer students who have financial concerns (49 % versus 65%), and fewer students who enroll because of scholarship offers (14% versus 30%).
Possible trends revealed by analyzing results from 1996 to 1998 are increases in the percentage of Caucasian students at the College (88% to 90%), those with a B average in high school (62% to 73%), and those with family support (80% to 88%). Decreases occurred in the percentages of those for whom the College of Charleston is between 100 and 500 miles from home (49% to 43%), those whose family income is between $50,000 and $100,000 (39% to 35%), those who have financial concerns (58% to 49%), and those who enroll because of scholarship offers (21 % to 14%).
As a second source of information, the working group referred to the survey the Office of Admissions sends to students who were accepted for admission to the College of Charleston but later elected to enroll at other institutions. For fal11999, withdrawal surveys were sent to 4,522 students. Of those students, 886 returned surveys to the Office of Admissions, representing a twenty percent return rate. Respondents chose to enroll at a wide variety of colleges and universities, 127 different institutions altogether. The College of Charleston's top competitors for the students were USC Columbia (9%), Clemson (8%), University of Georgia (5.5%), UNC Chapel Hill (2.3%), Winthrop (2.3%), and Elon College (2.3%).
The reasons most often cited as to why students have an interest in the College of Charleston have varied only slightly over the past several years. These reasons, ranked by frequency of occurrence, are as follows:
The only new factor influencing students to apply for admission to the College of Charleston is number nine, the institution's athletic reputation.
When asked to compare the College of Charleston to other institutions, respondents considered the College to have the competitive advantage in the following ranked areas:
Respondents rated the College of Charleston as being poorer than its competitors in the following ranked areas:
Other than the issue of proximity to home, the College has the ability to develop policies to have a positive impact on all of these areas of concern.
The third mechanism the working group selected for gathering information is a survey it developed with the help of Andy Felts, Director of the Institute for Public Affairs and Policy Studies. The working group had planned to distribute the survey to guidance counselors from the tri-county area during a conference that was to have taken place at the College in September of 1999, but Hurricane Floyd caused the cancellation of that conference. This event hampered the working group's efforts; however, working with the Alumni Services Office, the working group did mail the survey to 500 randomly selected alumni. There was a twenty-three percent response rate, with responses coming from alumni in eighteen states, the District of Columbia, and Holland. Within the United States, the most distant respondent lives in Alaska. Most of the respondents live in South Carolina (73), with forty-seven in Charleston County, eight in Berkeley County, and five in Dorchester County.
The working group also asked prospective students and their families to complete the survey during the second Admissions Open House during the Fall 1999 semester. The response was minimal. Because the working group's primary respondents were alumni, the group members caution the Long Range Planning Committee to remember that the information comes from persons who have an interest in the College, many of whom have a demonstrated loyalty for the institution. Additional surveys need to be distributed to members of minority communities and persons throughout the state who do not have strong affiliations with the College. The working group will survey persons within these groups and then turn over the responses to Academic Affairs.
The majority of the survey respondents came from the 26 to 35 age group, but responses came from alumni in all age brackets. (Refer to the overview of the survey results.) Of the 115 respondents, two are African American, three are Asian American, and the rest are Caucasian. This distribution appears to reflect the College's history as a municipal and private institution, with larger enrollments of minorities occurring only in relatively recent years.
Most of the alumni who responded to the survey are in business (43), but the second highest number of the respondents work in primary through secondary education (35). Interestingly, the majority of those alumni working in business (31) come from the 26- 35 age group. Within that same age group, seven of the respondents are working in primary through secondary education. In the 36 to 45 age group, the number of persons working in business is equal to that of the number of persons working in primary through secondary education: eleven in each category .In the 46 to 55 age group, there are five respondents working in primary through secondary education and four working in business. In the 56 to 65 age group, the numbers are equal again at two per field. These figures may be related to the growth of the College's School of Business and Economics and/or an indication of national trends in education.
Of those responding to the issue, eighty-four percent either highly agree or agree that the College of Charleston is an institution that welcomes minorities. Only one-third of one percent of the respondents either disagree or highly disagree with that idea. Similarly, eighty-four percent either highly agree or agree that the College fosters diversity in its student, faculty, and staff populations, while just over one quarter of one percent take the opposite view. Given that less than one-half of one percent of the respondents placed themselves within a minority group, it is probable that the College should do more to investigate the perceptions that diverse minority communities have about the institution's minority relations.
As noted above, academic reputation is the second most frequent reason prospective students give for seeking admission to the College of Charleston, and seventy-two percent of the alumni who responded to the issue either highly agree or agree that students select the College because of its academic reputation. Among prospective students, the cost of tuition is ranked as the eighth most cited reason for applying to the College for admission. Of the alumni who responded to the statement, fifty-two percent either highly agreed or agreed that students select the College because of its low tuition. While the College's athletic programs appear to be leading more prospective students to apply to the College for admission, forty-eight percent of the alumni responding to the statement either highly agree or agree that students select the College of Charleston because of its athletic programs.
When prospective students state what they believe to be those areas in which the College of Charleston is poorer than competing colleges and universities, problems with residence halls and a lack of financial assistance rank as numbers two and three. Sixty-five percent of the alumni responding to that portion of the survey feel that the College provides students with appropriate housing and student life programs. Nine alumni, less than one percent of the survey respondents, either disagree or highly disagree with that statement; however, of those alumni, three are in the 18 to 25 age group and four are in the 26 to 35 age group. These alumni would have been enrolled in the College when its growth-related problems with housing were becoming prevalent. It is notable that two alumni from the 46 to 55 age group commented that "housing is disgraceful," and that there are "many students who avoid CofC because of housing and parking."
Thirty-five percent of the alumni responding to the statement feel that students select the College because of the scholarships it offers students. Unlike other statements in the survey, to which most alumni tend to have responded that they highly agree or agree, the majority of the respondents (fifty-four percent) either slightly agreed or slightly disagreed that students select the College of Charleston because of the scholarships it offers students. In this instance, the perceptions of the alumni appear to be more in line with those of students who apply for admission but elect not to enroll in the College of Charleston.
Aside from the matter of financial support, the only other statement to which a majority of alumni responded that they either slightly agree or slightly disagree, as opposed to highly agree or agree, is related to job placement. Forty-three percent of the respondents indicated that they slightly agree or slightly disagree that the College does a good job of placing its students in the work force. Forty percent said that they either highly agree or agree with that statement. One respondent commented that she and her husband "received little or no help from the College in finding employment."
In matters related to the direction the College should take in developing its curricular offerings, alumni responding to that portion of the survey overwhelmingly indicated that they believe that the institution should address the needs of adult students and graduate students. Eighty-nine percent indicated that they either highly agree or agree that they would like the College to offer evening courses/programs for degree seeking adults who want to complete their studies at night. Ninety percent either highly agreed or agreed that the College should expand its program/course offerings at the graduate level.
In written comments, alumni said that the College should offer courses at the graduate level "if it can provide the proper support for a strong graduate program," that there is a need for an "MBA program to suit the needs of the adult community, " and that they would like to see doctoral programs offered by the College. One alumnus indicated an interest "in pursuing post- graduate courses" if the College were to offer them via the internet.
Two of the respondents indicated unhappiness with the current course offerings at the undergraduate and the graduate level. One suggested that, rather than add graduate programs to its offerings, the College should diversify the undergraduate degrees that it offers. In a related comment, another alumnus indicated that the graduate program in accountancy needs to offer courses in the morning, evening, or at lunchtime so that adults with children might enroll in the program more easily.
Recognizing that all of the information described in this report derives from persons who have had a confirmed interest in or connection with the College of Charleston, the Competitive Issues Working Group suggests that the institution can make some plans to address perceptions and concerns that may affect its growth and success in the future. Areas of immediate concern would appear to be the level of minority enrollments, the availability of scholarship support for students with financial need, and problems with student housing. Addressing each of these areas will require a commitment of fiscal and personnel resources from the institution.
The alumni who responded to the working group's survey have made it clear that, while the College's strength lies in its liberal arts tradition, it should expand existing programs and develop new graduate programs to meet the needs of adult students. Of the alumni responding to that portion of the survey, thirty-three percent said that they are interested in continuing their education for personal interests, twenty-five percent for reasons related to their current employment, and sixteen percent for a change in career. Only twenty-six percent said that they were not interested in continuing their education.
In 1948, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote "The Purpose of Education," saying that "it seems to me that education has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in society: the one is utility and the other is culture. Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life." Alluding to the difference between the benefits one can derive from a liberal arts education as opposed to those made available by a more technical education, he went on to say that "the complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living." The College of Charleston should retain its commitment to providing undergraduate students with an excellent liberal arts education while addressing the needs of the adult community with diversified and increased course offerings at the graduate level as appropriate to the institution's situation and resources.