The Community College PROMISE Framework: A Powerful Tool for Enrollment

Aligning Data and Strategy

Pathway to Realizing Opportunities, Meaningful Interaction, and Supportive Education

Tectonic Shifts for Higher Education

Community colleges are battling continued doubt and a worsening reputation within the broader field of higher education. The higher education landscape is changing more rapidly than ever before, causing many in our country to rethink its value, and presenting an increasingly complex dilemma for community colleges.

Growing factors are impacting higher education, including:

While the factors at play and their implications for higher education are increasingly complex and present new challenges to colleges nationwide, there has never been a greater opportunity to promote the unique opportunities community colleges can provide to today’s students. 

In a socially volatile environment that is increasingly critical of higher education, community colleges can take advantage of the trends that present potential threats and turn them into opportunities. Examples of promising shifts that highlight some of the opportunities for community colleges include:

    • Gen Z and Trades: Increasing recognition of vocational skills in Gen Z, being labeled as the ‘Toolbelt Generation’.
    • Financial Literacy on Social Media: Increasingly accessible financial education through platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube and popularization of financially responsible decision-making.
    • Non-Degree Program Enrollment: Rising interest in faster, alternative education pathways.
    • Government Job Requirements: Policy shifts to abandon degree requirements for more federal jobs in fields such as cybersecurity.
    • Manufacturing Workforce Development: Focus on growing the US manufacturing workforce in strategically significant areas for economic growth or national security such as semiconductor and additive manufacturing.
    • Green Economy Contributions: Community colleges being recognized as pivotal players to realize sustainable economic initiatives.

In order to thrive in this changing environment, community colleges must future-proof their positioning to meet the dynamic evolution of today’s student needs and outside influences. Positioning is pivotal to ensuring community colleges not only remain relevant, but continue to be indispensable pillars of opportunity and advancement within their communities. 

Community colleges that proactively adapt to the current landscape will consistently bring in new students, retain current ones, and drive further impact within their community. A well-positioned community college will not only thrive in the above-described environment, but be at the forefront of shaping what this change looks like throughout the coming years. The PROMISE Framework’s primary charter is to provide community colleges with the practical tools to fully realize this vision.

The PROMISE Framework is Most Likely to Succeed’s proprietary framework to drive community college positioning by mitigating risk and leveraging opportunity.

It identifies current college positioning and a pathway forward, driving success through enrollment, retention, outcomes, and community engagement.

Find the balance between external positioning and internal readiness.

 

What is Community College Positioning?

Positioning for community colleges refers to the strategic effort to establish a distinct and desirable image or reputation within the higher education landscape and among the community they serve. It involves defining the unique attributes, strengths, and values of the institution in order to differentiate it from other educational options and effectively communicate its value proposition to various stakeholders, including prospective students, current students, alumni, faculty, staff, and the local community.

What does PROMISE mean?

The PROMISE Framework encapsulates the key principles crucial for community college positioning:

Pathway to Realizing Opportunities: Through this framework, community colleges can articulate a clear pathway for students by showcasing the diverse educational opportunities available, whether it’s workforce development, career advancement, or transfer pathways to four-year institutions. At the same time, internal college teams can create a path to further connect with students and solidify their college positioning by leveraging opportunities.


Meaningful Interaction highlights the importance of fostering a supportive learning environment where students engage with faculty, peers, and community partners, enriching their educational experience and building valuable networks. At the same time, internal college teams interact with one another to create alignment within the student experience and to combat variables.


Lastly, Supportive Education emphasizes the institution’s dedication to offering comprehensive support services, including academic advising, counseling, and financial aid assistance, ensuring students have the resources they need to succeed.

The name PROMISE stems from our collaborative work with community colleges nationwide to craft compelling value propositions and enrollment marketing campaigns. It became evident that many colleges were conveying messaging that failed to authentically represent their identity, ultimately undermining their enrollment efforts. By challenging the authenticity of college claims and aspirations, we identified what was true and what wasn’t in order to provide forthcoming and honest messages to prospective students. 

However, within each engagement, internal and external barriers often hindered colleges from conveying authentic messages. These barriers could stem from internal challenges such as misalignment between institutional goals and actions, or external factors such as  community perceptions or industry trends. The Community College PROMISE framework was developed to address these challenges by prompting colleges to critically evaluate their commitments and ask, “Do our promises fit with community expectations?” and  “Are we fulfilling our promises?”. If the answer is “No, we are not fulfilling our promise.”, the framework encourages a thorough examination of the barriers and the necessary steps to overcome them, ensuring that community colleges can authentically convey their value and live up to their promises.

By implementing this framework, community colleges can: 

  1. Increase enrollment sustainably
  2. Sustainably and continuously improve their positioning
  3. Pinpoint priority efforts for action
  4. Improve student outcomes
  5. Strengthen relationships with stakeholders
  6. Establish themselves as vital hubs of education, opportunity, and support within their regions

The PROMISE framework measures success through the ability of community colleges to adapt to variables such as changing demographics, labor markets, economic conditions, and educational trends to maintain and improve enrollment. The goal is to be able to assess variables and progress positioning, while remaining true to the mission and promise of providing accessible, affordable, and high-quality education to all students. By implementing this framework, community colleges can position themselves as the leading choice in the higher education landscape, driving innovation, equity, and opportunity.

A Strategic Pathway to Community College Positioning

The purpose of the PROMISE Framework is to provide a tool for community colleges to holistically evaluate how they are positioned, and make systematic improvements to improve that positioning. The PROMISE framework is an actionable, strategic pathway  that guides community colleges through its 4 steps: Identify, Understand, Posture, Position.

1. Identify: Goals, Risks, Barriers, and Opportunities


The Community College PROMISE framework achieves this by first identifying community college internal goals and variables that impact the goals, including external factors and internal operations.

2. Understand: Know and Assess Variables


Each variable can pose risks that harm the college, present opportunities for growth, or can be neutral. The framework gives an understanding to community college leadership and teams to evaluate these variables and assess their impact on your community college’s positioning. Through understanding, community college leadership can distinguish between risks that can be mitigated and opportunities worth pursuing within internal operations and external environments.

3. Posture: Internal Factors


Addressing external factors that pose risks or opportunities often requires internal changes within the college itself to be adequately addressed in order to make an impact. Community college posturing considers the internal factors such as: people, processes, technology, and resources.

4. Position: Promotion, Messaging, Engagement

Some external factors can only be mitigated through internal and external alignment, while others cannot be mitigated by the college individually, requiring a more complex mitigation strategy depending on these factors of alignment. Positioning the college is a result of the three steps above, but specific actions that are directed outward from the college include: promotion, messaging and engagement and are often referred to as the college’s value proposition or brand.

Implementing these four steps enables colleges to adopt a continuous improvement method, resulting in strategic community college positioning that creates a sustainable and regenerative enrollment strategy.

Components of the PROMISE Framework

The PROMISE Framework is centered around 4 quadrants that are representative of the primary phases of the student journey.

The 4 Quadrants: Phases of the Student Journey

The PROMISE Lifecyle is centered around the the Student Journey.

The student journey layer focuses on understanding and optimizing the experience of students as they progress through their educational pathway at the community college. It aims to ensure that students have a seamless and supportive experience from the moment they consider enrolling to the completion of their educational goals. By aligning with the student journey, colleges can identify pain points, provide targeted support, and enhance overall student satisfaction and success.

The student journey is split into 4 primary phases, representative of the student’s holistic experience.

1. Enrollment

This phase encompasses activities related to raising awareness of the college and attracting students to registration from their initial awareness until their first day of class. It involves marketing, recruitment, and admissions efforts aimed at reaching prospective students and convincing them to choose the college and then enroll/register.

2. Retention

Once students have enrolled, this phase focuses on supporting them throughout their academic journey until they achieve their educational goals, whether it be obtaining a certificate, degree, or achieving their educational objectives. It involves providing academic and support services to help students persist and succeed in their studies.

3. Outcomes

This phase examines the outcomes of students after they complete their education, including securing employment related to their field of study, earning a livable wage, transferring  and graduating, and achieving career advancement. It also assesses the relevance of their education in the job market and the extent to which their college experience prepares them for success in their chosen careers.

4. Community Engagement

This phase includes: alumni perceptions and fundraising and community support, which may include employer partnerships, donations, and opportunities within the community. Community engagement is the college’s reach beyond those who are currently attending college/school.

These four phases of the student journey are represented in the innermost circle on the framework graphic, and the other colleges activities and departments are represented in subsequent layers around these core phases. The next layer outlines the individual steps of the student journey through the four phases.

The next three layers shown visualize the internal factors that influence the student journey. These influences include departments, programs, technology, and communications, all of which play a significant role in shaping the student experience and outcomes and may be owned by different areas of the college.

 

Internal Factors

These areas internal to the college that have varying levels of influence on the student include:

 

College Departments

Organizations/Departments includes: academic faculty, students services, financial aid, counseling, workforce development, advancement, career services, etc. It involves aligning departments, teams, and stakeholders to work collaboratively towards common objectives, such as improving student retention, increasing graduation rates, and fostering community engagement. By aligning organizations, colleges can streamline processes, reduce duplication of efforts, and create a cohesive and supportive environment for students and staff.

Programs

Programs include academic pathways, support services, and extracurricular activities with the needs and aspirations of students and the demands of the job market. It aims to ensure that the college’s programs are relevant, engaging, and effectively prepare students for success in their chosen fields.

Technology

The technology layer involves leveraging digital tools, platforms, and systems to enhance the efficiency, accessibility, and effectiveness of college operations and services. It aims to support students, faculty, and staff in their academic and administrative activities, facilitate communication and collaboration, and provide data-supported insights for decision-making. By aligning technology with institutional goals and student needs, colleges can improve the student experience, optimize resource allocation, and foster innovation and continuous improvement.

Communications

Communications focuses on promoting the college’s brand, programs, and services to attract prospective students, engage current students, and build relationships with stakeholders and the community. It aims to proactively enhance the college’s visibility, reputation, and credibility, while also informing and empowering students to make informed decisions about their educational journey.

External Factors

As the layers progress, they transition to things outside of the college’s direct control that will affect a college’s positioning. The orange layers represent the external factors that the college must consider, with the last layer of internal factors having the most influence on the external factors, but the college having less and less influence as the layers continue outwards.

The individual external factors can be categorized into 5 distinct categories:

Community

This encompasses community populations, demographics, and socioeconomic trends within the college’s service area. It reflects the characteristics and needs of the local population that may impact the college’s programs, enrollment, and community engagement efforts.

Perceptions

This category includes attitudes, beliefs, and the reputation of the college among various stakeholders, including students, parents, employers, and the broader community. It encompasses how the college is perceived and valued by its constituents.

Local Industry

This refers to the labor and industry needs within the college’s service areas. It encompasses the specific workforce demands, job market trends, and industry partnerships that influence the college’s program offerings and workforce development initiatives.

Public/Private Industry

This represents regional, statewide, and national labor and industry trends that affect the college’s programs, curriculum development, and partnerships. It includes broader economic factors, technological advancements, and market demands shaping the employment landscape.

Policy

This category comprises federal and state policies, regulations, and funding mechanisms that impact the college’s operations, programs, and financial resources. It includes government initiatives related to education, workforce development, and student financial aid programs that influence the college’s ability to serve its students and community effectively.

Alignment within the PROMISE Framework

While the strategic steps to identify, understand, posture and position community colleges outline HOW we can apply the framework, this framework utilizes orbital and radial dimensions to prioritize continuous improvement and positioning impact.  

Identify

Goals, Risks, Barriers, and Opportunities

Understand

Know and Assess Variables

Posture

Internal Factors

Position

Promotion, Messaging, Engagement 

In order to continually meet the needs of current and future students and create sustainable enrollment outcomes, community colleges need to start with orbital alignment, then address radial alignment and, finally, move into external radial alignment.

 

Orbital Alignment

Internal Radial Alignment

External Radial Alignment

Although external factors are the last to address, the college must first be aware of them (as noted in the identify and understand phase). This allows the college to understand how external factors might influence the student journey and adjust internal alignment to mitigate against any negative effects.

Orbital alignment focuses on the individual internal layers departments, programs, technology, and communications and extends alignment within that layer across the four quadrants:  enrollment, retention, outcomes, and community engagement. This is also where a college should start in order to achieve foundational alignment.

 

Radial alignment describes alignment between the layers from internal factors to external factors, beginning from the quadrant and extending outward within that quadrant. In radial alignment, efforts extend across all layers, ensuring consistency and cohesion throughout the college’s internal factors to external factors. Internal radial alignment enhances communication effectiveness by aligning internal factors such as: people, processes and resources with overarching institutional goals. This is what is considered developing alignment.

 

Finally, external radial alignment represents prime positioning, where the college delivers on its promises consistently aligned with external factors and outcomes. External Radial alignment extends from the center of a quadrant to the outside external factors. This alignment with external stakeholders, including students, employers, and communities, demonstrates the college’s commitment to fulfilling its educational mandate and contributing positively to society. This is considered prime alignment.

 

Each phase of alignment builds upon the previous one, with orbital alignment serving as the foundation for radial alignment, which, in turn, lays the groundwork for achieving external radial alignment. Moving from orbital alignment to radial alignment and finally to external radial alignment in strategic enrollment management represents a progression towards comprehensive positioning which results in integrated enrollment marketing effectiveness.

Where do I start? Diagnosing Misalignment

To start identifying goals, risks, barriers, and opportunities, review the symptoms of inconsistent alignment and identify where your college may be in alignment. If the college resonates with symptoms of inconsistent orbital alignment, efforts should focus on orbital alignment before progressing into radial alignment.

Level 1: Symptoms of Inconsistent Orbital Alignment

 Theme: Lack of Clear Responsibility and Activities

    • Unclear or non-existent responsibility over communications: Who is accountable for ensuring effective communication within each quadrant? Within each process?
    • Communications not happening: What specific communication activities should be occurring at each stage within each quadrant to support the overall objectives?
    • Inconsistent Messaging: Communication messages may vary widely within each quadrant, leading to confusion and lack of clarity.
    • Siloes and Fragmentation: Communication efforts may be siloed within departments or units, hindering collaboration and holistic approaches.
    • Lack of Accountability: Without clear responsibility, important communication tasks may fall through the cracks, leading to gaps in information dissemination

Level 2: Symptoms of Inconsistent Internal Radial Alignment

 Theme: Lack of Alignment and Consistency

    • Messages contradict student & stakeholder experience: Where are the discrepancies between the messages being communicated and the actual experiences of students and stakeholders
    • Communications not aligned to process/organizations: How can communication strategies be better aligned with existing processes and organizational structures to ensure coherence and effectiveness?
    • Mismatched Priorities: Different quadrants may prioritize goals differently, leading to conflicting strategies and priorities when taking action.
    • Limited Sharing of Budget: Allocation of individual department budgets on campus can hinder cross collaboration or redundant use of funds.
    • Resistance to Change: Resistance from stakeholders within the organization may hinder efforts to align strategies across quadrants.
    • Resource Constraints: Limited resources, such as budget or staffing, may impede efforts to develop and implement aligned communication plans.

Level 3: Symptoms of External Radial Misalignment with Promises and Outcomes

 Theme: Lack of Reflecting Reality and Providing Evidence

    • Communications don’t reflect reality: Why is there a disconnect between the messages being communicated and the actual reality, such as graduation rate, transfer rate, etc.? What factors contribute to this discrepancy?
    • Missing Evidence: What evidence or data is lacking to support the effectiveness of communication efforts? How can this evidence be obtained or generated to better inform decision-making and communication strategies?
    • Misleading Messaging: Communication efforts may unintentionally misrepresent the college’s promises or outcomes, leading to disillusionment among stakeholders.
    • Lack of Transparency: Insufficient transparency in communication may erode trust with external stakeholders, such as students, parents, or community members.
    • Difficulty in Measuring Impact: Challenges in measuring the impact of communication efforts on outcomes may hinder the ability to assess effectiveness and make data-driven improvements.

Today’s dynamic environment demands that higher education adapt more rapidly to be prepared for the future. However, by being proactive, community colleges can shape and not just react to future change. The PROMISE Framework presents a holistic methodology for community colleges to position themselves as a lynchpin in their communities by creating alignment throughout the student journey. Through comprehensive alignment to address the internal and external factors facing today’s community colleges, they can not only generate new opportunities and sustainable success, but confidently say to students that they are fulfilling the Community College PROMISE.

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