Charter Oak Rising: Fall 2014

Another new semester begins, and for Charter Oak this is one for the record books.  I have written in this blog about the Go Back to Get Ahead program that the Governor and the System asked us to run.  You know that we developed the project plan between the Governors’ State of the State speech in early February and our launch date of June 2^nd.  Well the fruits of those labors have arrived.  To continue my metaphor, the College has been engaged in some pretty heavy lifting for the past eight months, and that work has delivered some truly amazing results.

 

First, our story: College enrollment is up 30% over last fall at this same moment.  And the number of credits that students have registered for is up 40%.  Let those numbers sink in for a second.  Now let’s look at just the past two months.  In July-August of 2012, 279 students matriculated; in 2013, 270 students matriculated; but during July-August of this year 503 students matriculants (of which 191 were GBTGA students).  That is an 86% increase in matriculated students over the same two month period in either of the past two years.

 

On the system level, our efforts have produced 6,381 inquiries that became 3,618 referrals, and then 1,250 applicants.  As of today, the system has enrolled 825 students toward our ultimate goal of 1500. In simpler language, our advertising efforts produced over 6,000 interested students.  Well over half of these inquiries asked to be referred to one of our 17 schools, and then 35% of that pool applied for Admission.  So far, nearly 60% of the Applicants have enrolled.  These are very impressive results, and they are gaining national attention.

 

So it is safe to say several things about this fall.  First, everyone at Charter Oak is thrilled that we have grown so dramatically. Second, the ConnSCU system is very pleased with our leadership and successful management of the Go Back to Get Ahead program. You can expect that we will be asked to take a leadership position in other projects as the system evolves.  Third, the staff is very tired but very satisfied with their efforts and thrilled others are discovering the Charter Oak secret!  And finally, we aren’t done with this growth quite yet.  We have another session that begins in late October, and we expect to see more GBTGA enrollments between now and then.

 

Ultimately, this growth means that more returning students will finally achieve their dream of obtaining a college degree.  And this is what truly makes this moment special. 

As always, if you have questions, advice, or just want to let me know how you feel, you can post to this blog or email me at eklonoski@charteroak.edu.

Ed Klonoski, President
Charter Oak State College