College of Coastal Georgia 2024

Mission Statement

Revised and approved in November 2015 and reaffirmed by the Board of Regents in January 2021, the CCGA mission statement reads as follows:

As a state college of the University System of Georgia, the College of Coastal Georgia will be a college of choice for residents of Georgia and beyond by providing an accessible and affordable quality education. Advocating excellence in scholarship and community engagement, the College promotes student progression and timely graduation through student-centered programs that offer a rich and diverse student experience. Students are prepared for meaningful careers, advanced study, lifelong learning, and participation in a global and technological society. The institution will provide associate and baccalaureate degrees that support the intellectual, economic and cultural needs of the community and region.

This mission statement is fully aligned with the University System of Georgia’s (USG) mission, it represents the core principles and unique institutional characteristics of a state college, and it is accentuated by strong leadership, worthwhile community linkages, and exemplary student development. It underscores the College’s sustained commitment to community engagement that encompasses service-learning, volunteerism, practica, and internships, contributing to the cultural, economic and social well-being of the local community, southeast Georgia and beyond.

Fall 2024 Student Profile [1]

The College of Coastal Georgia’s fall 2024 enrollment stands at 3,476 students and an FTE of 2,826. In terms of self-declared race/ethnicity, 9.6% identified as Hispanic/Latino, 0.6% American Indian or Alaska Native, 2.3% Asian, 19.9% Black or African American, 0.1% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, 59.3% White, 1.4% two or more races, and 6.7% undeclared. With an average age of 23.1, the College’s student body is composed of 70.2% female and 56.0% full-time students with 90.91% indicating Georgia residency, 8.17% out-of-state, and 0.92% out-of-country.

First-generation students (whose parent(s)/legal guardian(s) have not completed a baccalaureate degree) account for 55.1% of the 3,458 students for whom we know parent/guardian educational attainment. Adult learners (25 years of age or older) and military/veterans account for 23.4% and 7.1% of the total student body, respectively. Pell recipients account for 41.6% of students, while dual-enrolled students total 465, which is a 25.0% increase compared to fall 2023. Academically, the class of new freshman (for fall 2023) came to the institution with a 3.17 average high school GPA, attempted an average of 24.47 credits during the first academic year, and earned an average of 17.70 credits. This cohort persisted through fall 2024 at a 53.8% rate and had an average GPA of 2.19. The work on completion is imperative as we continue to support this student population.

Influence on Completion Work

CCGA’s institutional mission is a beacon that guides its completion priorities. First, by providing access and affordability, CCGA addresses the needs of the region and is particularly impactful for communities that are traditionally underserved by postsecondary education (data from the College’s First Destination Survey shows 74% of graduates remain in the state and 67% in the region). Secondly, the College promotes student progression and timely graduation by proactively engaging and supporting students at every stage of their collegiate journey (as evidenced by the process improvement, strategies, and activities, being implemented as part of the 2024 Momentum Plan). Finally, by increasing student campus and community engagement, the institution prepares students to engage in meaningful careers and to satisfy the economic and cultural needs of the community and the region (data from the First Destination Survey shows that 58.4% of respondents were employed full-time at or immediately after graduation, a rate that is well above the national rate of 53.7% (class of 2023), which includes graduates of highly selective institutions).

In Fall of 2024, the College of Coastal Georgia was one of only six institutions selected for the NISS Diagnostic and Playbook services, providing three years of implementation support to drive student success. CCGA’s selection reflects its potential to make impactful improvements in student outcomes. This partnership enables the institution to address unique institutional challenges with evidence-based solutions and support from Georgia State University, enhancing the institution’s ability to develop and implement strategies that increase retention and completion rates. This work is in alignment and will contribute to our commitment to student success for every student, every time. The College of Coastal Georgia will take the lessons learned from the NISS experience and will continue to work with its Student Success and Completion Team to proactively guide students to maintain positive academic practices and mindset and to strengthen the services, activities, interventions, and communication protocols targeting students who may be at academic risk. The next sections provide a progress update on the programs/projects/activities/initiatives that were selected as part of the institutional Momentum plan for 2024.

[1] Total enrollment, FTE, and all demographic information are based on USG Semester Enrollment Report and persisted report data for fall 2024; the academic achievement metrics are based on Banner SIS data for the fall 2023 cohort.

Success Inventory

Post-Admit Checklist (College of Coastal Georgia-2024)

Strategy/Project Name:

Post-Admit Checklist

Momentum Area:

Pathways

Category:

Advising

First Year Experience

Orientation

Transition to College

Strategy/Project Description:

The College will create a roadmap to guide students on all the steps they need to take and the information they need to learn after they are admitted to the college, to ensure a successful start of their college career at Coastal.

Activity Status:

Piloting

Evaluation/Assessment plan:

Completion of a dynamic checklist that guides students after admissions, based on certain student characteristics.

KPIs:

Development Stage: Number of checklists developed for the different student populations.
After implementation: Checklist completion rate per student population.

Baseline measure (for each KPI):

Development Stage: 1 checklist developed out of 6 populations identified.
After implementation: TBD

Current/most recent data (for each KPI):

Development Stage: 6 checklists developed out of 6 populations identified, 1 checklist implemented online.
After implementation: Data will be available once checklists are fully implemented

Goal or targets (for each KPI):

Development Stage: Completion and online implementation of checklists for all identified populations.
After implementation: This value will be determined after the checklists are in use for at least one term.

Time period/duration: All static checklists are publicly available online on our website. Dynamic checklists will be created and should be available at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year.

Progress and Adjustments:

All checklists initially drafted have been launched and are currently available online through our public website.

Plan for the Year Ahead:

The next step on this project is to make the checklists dynamic within the student portal. This would allow us to mark certain items as completed based on student records. We have already created a prototype that has been reviewed by the committee. The next step will be to identify which records can be automatically checked through student records.

Challenges and Support:

This project relies heavily on the participation of several members from the campus community. Although they have been active participants to this point, we recognize that there are competing priorities that could affect their ability to participate in the future. Additionally, the Office of Admissions has printed marketing materials that may not be in total alignment with the new checklists being developed. Although the website is easily updated, printed materials present a challenge that we are actively discussing. Finally, we are evaluating if the dynamic checklists could be created within our new CRM (Element451) or if we should continue with the original plan to create the dynamic checklists within our portal.

Primary Contact:

Diana Leal, Director of Enterprise Services

Colleen Knight, Interim AVP for Academic Student Engagement

ENDEAVOR (College of Coastal Georgia-2024)

Strategy/Project Name:

ENDEAVOR

Momentum Area:

Mindset

Category:

Career/Major Exploration

First Year Experience

High Impact Practices

Mindset

Program Maps

Strategy/Project Description:

The ENDEAVOR program helps students personalize, internalize, and later articulate their transformation beyond a credential. By awarding ENDEAVOR Tags that celebrate student development and engagement through courses and co-curricular activities, students become more aware of their own growth and are provided with the language to describe the skills they have gained. This language will give them an advantage when entering the workforce, as they will be able to describe their college experience in a way that resonates with employers.

Activity Status:

Refining/Maintaining

Evaluation/Assessment plan:

Engagement in the ENDEAVOR framework will be measured from the local database of Tag awards. From this database the institution will create various engagement measures, with the first two being: 1. number of faculty awarding ENDEAVOR Tags in at least one of their courses; 2. Total number of ENDEAVOR tags awarded to students per semester.

KPIs:

Number of faculty awarding ENDEAVOR tags.
Number of ENDEAVOR tags awarded to students (per semester) from D2L or Presence

Baseline measure (for each KPI):

Fall 2023
41 Faculty awarded ENDEAVOR tags.
1856 Tags were awarded to students via D2L, and 2481 via Presence

Current/most recent data (for each KPI):

Fall 2024

39 faculty awarded ENDEAVOR Tags (Not at final count)
3553 tags awarded in D2L, 8367 awarded in Presence, and 56 awarded individually.

Goal or targets (for each KPI):

Fall 2024 (Original)

At least 50 Faculty award ENDEAVOR tags
At least 2000 Tags awarded to students via D2L, 2000 via Presence.

Fall 2024 (Revised)

At least 50 Faculty award ENDEAVOR tags
At least 4000 Tags awarded to students via D2L, 8500 via Presence, and 75 awarded individually.

Time period/duration: As the adoption of ENDEAVOR continues to grow, the goal is to award at least 10,000 tags to students each semester.

Progress and Adjustments:

After a successful launch during the collegewide Student Success Summit (May 2023), the ENDEAVOR framework was infused in the 2023-2024 new student orientations. Adoption of tags by faculty and staff has continued to expand throughout the 2023-2024 academic year. The College is excited to share that the level of engagement and adoption by faculty and staff this fall is surpassing the goals established even before the term is over, with over 3500 tags awarded through courses and more than 8500 tags awarded through co-curricular activities. With this increase, more aggressive goals have been established, and the project now aims to have at least 50 faculty awarding ENDEAVOR Tags in at least one of their courses, and to surpass 3500 tags awarded through courses and 8500 tags awarded through cocurricular experiences.

Plan for the Year Ahead:

With various adoption campaigns still underway, the College continues to work on a reporting infrastructure to provide ease of access to “adoption and award information” for Deans, Department Chairs, and Unit Directors.

Challenges and Support:

Challenges: The reporting infrastructure is established thanks to the support of Technology Services, and we recognize that there is limited bandwidth when this project is added to a list of competing priorities.

Support Needed: The College has engaged with the University of Central Oklahoma to receive support and guidance based on their implementation of the Student Transformative Learning Record (STLR) project. This consultative engagement was completed in May 2024 and has led to various process improvements.

The next step in the development of the project is to create an advisory panel consisting of local employers. This panel will help the ENDEAVOR program maintain an alignment of student development with workforce needs.

Primary Contact:

Mary McGinnis, Director of the Endeavor Center for High Impact Practices

Colleen Knight, Interim AVP for Academic Student Engagement

DECK 1000 (First-Year Experience Course) (College of Coastal Georgia-2024)

Strategy/Project Name:

DECK 1000 (First-Year Experience Course)

Momentum Area:

Mindset

Category:

Career/Major Exploration

Course Redesign

High Impact Practices

Orientation

Transition to College

Tutoring

Strategy/Project Description:

A first-year experience course, using high impact practices.

Activity Status:

Piloting

Evaluation/Assessment plan:

First-time Full-time Freshman Retention Rates will be compared for students participating in DECK 1000, non-DECK students, and the retention from prior years.

KPIs:

Development Stage: Revision of the development of course and faculty training program.
After Implementation: First-time Full-time Freshman Retention Rates for DECK students compared to non-DECK students.
- Fall-to-Spring
- Fall-to-Fall

Baseline measure (for each KPI):

Development Stage: The steering group is determining revisions to the course and creating a faculty training program after running a pilot in.
After Implementation:

For Fall 2022 cohort of First-time Full-time Freshman:

Fall-to-Spring retention rate: 79.0%.
Fall-to-Fall retention rate: 52.6%.

Current/most recent data (for each KPI):

Development stage: The pilot version of the course ran in Fall 2023, including faculty training. We revised the curriculum to make it standard across all classes and re-launched the pilot in Fall 2024. The new version of the course has all faculty members teaching the same lesson plans and assignments on the same schedule. Faculty training has continued with experienced DECK instructors mentoring new DECK instructors. We also expanded the pilot from 5 courses to 14 courses with faculty and staff instructors.
After Implementation:

Fall 2023 cohort of First-time Full-time Freshmen

Fall-to-Spring retention rate: 74.3% (DECK), 79.6% (non-DECK)
Fall-to-Fall retention rate: 50.0% (DECK), 57.6% (non-DECK)

Fall 2024 cohort of First-time Full-time Freshmen

Fall-to-Spring retention rate: 76.7% (DECK), 67.6% (non-DECK) to date (20 days post-registration opening)

Goal or targets (for each KPI):

Development stage: Completing the pilot and construction of the course, as well as the faculty training program.
After Implementation: First-time Full-time Freshman students enrolled in DECK 1000 will have at least a 2% higher retention rate than students who were not enrolled in DECK 1000.

Time period/duration: Completion of development of the course occurred in Summer 2024. The College re-piloted the course in Fall 2024, and the evaluation of retention rates will be conducted in Spring 2025 and Fall 2025, respectively.

Progress and Adjustments:

While preliminary data from the Fall 2023 pilot indicate a lower Fall-to-Spring retention, it is important to note that the students participating in this pilot were starting their college experience with academic achievement metrics that were below those of non-DECK students, and these confounding variables led to a more complex treatment analysis. Using propensity score matching to control by additional academic achievement metrics and to control by some demographic characteristics, it was shown that there is not sufficient evidence to claim an impact of DECK as a treatment. The Fall 2024 pilot was not populated solely by late enrolling students to gather participants with achievement metrics similar to the rest of the First-time Full-time freshman at the college. We hope this will give us less skewed data about the success of the DECK course. Based on preliminary Fall 2024 to Spring 2025 retention data, we are seeing promising improvements.

With the Fall 2023 pilot not as successful as initially hoped, the College has identified the need for additional training for instructors and additional structure in the course syllabus and assignments. We implemented a structure to the course to ensure that all students engaged in community-building exercises early in the course and are experiencing the same lesson plans and assignments from their instructors. Most instructors are meeting as a group on a once every-three-weeks schedule for reflection and training to make the course a success. Daily lesson plans were drafted to help guide the course and to ensure that students enrolled in the course have a consistent experience.

Plan for the Year Ahead:

The College intends to continue the pilot group meetings throughout 2024-2025, and in those meetings, will continue evaluating the course, planning changes and revising the lesson plans and assignments to improve the course.

Challenges and Support:

Challenges: Student engagement and attendance have been an issue. This has hurt the sense of community in the class, so students do not make attendance a priority. Those who have been attending seem to be succeeding.

Support Needed: A stronger partnership with Student Life is being developed to ensure that their programming is leveraged to assist the students in creating a community, and continued efforts to build community and connection in the course earlier to promote attendance.

Primary Contact:

Mary McGinnis, Director of the Endeavor Center for High Impact Practices

Colleen Knight, Interim AVP for Academic Student Engagement

Equitable Access for Student Course Materials (College of Coastal Georgia-2024)

Strategy/Project Name:

Equitable Access for Student Course Materials

Momentum Area:

Data & Communications

Category:

Access for Underserved Populations

Data

Open Educational Resources

Other/Undefined

Strategy/Project Description:

Research the possibilities of instituting inclusive textbook access – the idea that students would receive all digital course materials at a discounted rate, directly billed as part of their tuition. This model supports student academic success and retention efforts by ensuring every student is prepared on or before the first day of class.

An alternative presented by our textbook provider is branded as “equitable” access – the idea that students could pay a flat rate each semester for all course materials, print or digital.

Activity Status:

Studying

Evaluation/Assessment plan:

Evaluation Plan and measures: This project consists of three phases, with the second and third phases contingent on the results of phase one:

(Phase 1) Feasibility Study – in progress
(Phase 2) Development and Pilot Implementation
(Phase 3) Scaling.

The measure corresponding to the evaluation of phase one consists of the full execution of a feasibility study regardless of the outcome of such study. This study will include elements like:

Analysis of cost differences between traditional textbooks and inclusive access. Include comparison of print and digital materials, if available.
Faculty Survey – To be distributed November 2024
- Do the available publishers provide texts that meet the needs and expectations of faculty?
- How can inclusive textbooks aid students achieve learning outcomes?
- Identification of courses ideal for participation in a pilot program

A positive outcome from phase one would then lead to phase two which would involve evaluative measures like:

Creation of an implementation timeline
Development and implementation of training and communications campaigns for faculty and students
Implementation of a pilot program

Finally, the scaling evaluation will be related to the efficacy on improving access and affordability of the material for students, and in particular, the proportion of students that have access to all their materials during the first day of class, and the average cost of materials for students benefiting from the program.

KPIs:

(Phase 1) Feasibility Study
- Completion of the feasibility study.
(Phase 2) Development and Pilot Implementation
- Completion of an implementation timeline
- Execution of training and communication campaigns
- Launch of pilot program
(Phase 3) Scaling.
- Proportion of students that have access to all their materials during the first day of class.
- Average cost of materials for students that participate in the program.

Baseline measure (for each KPI):

(Phase 1) Feasibility Study: N/A
(Phase 2) Development and Pilot Implementation: N/A
(Phase 3) Scaling.
- Access KPI: TBD
- Cost KPI: TBD

Current/most recent data (for each KPI):

N/A

Goal or targets (for each KPI):

TBD

Time period/duration:

(Phase 1) Feasibility Study: Spring 2024 - Spring 2025
(Phase 2) Development and Pilot Implementation: Spring 2025 – Fall 2025 (contingent on phase 1)
(Phase 3) Scaling: Spring 2026 (contingent on phase 1 and 2)

Progress and Adjustments:

This project is still in the “studying” phase. Preliminary information is still in the process of being gathered. A faculty survey will be ready for implementation by the end of November 2024. Cost-analysis is still ongoing.

Plan for the Year Ahead:

The course of the next year will involve collecting data, conducting research and cooperating with various offices on campus (Business Affairs, Auxiliary Services, Registrar, Technology Services, etc.) to evaluate the feasibility of the program, and to determine possible next steps. These steps are still in-progress.

Challenges and Support:

The college understands that the inclusion of textbook costs as part of the tuition has numerous logistic, symbolic, and political implications. It will be important to maintain all communication channels open, and to discuss this project with numerous stakeholders to avoid any pitfalls.

We will work closely with our existing textbook provider and other USG institutions which may have already navigated this process.

Primary Contact:

Allison Sneed, Director of Academic Projects and Innovation

Campus Plans Supplemental Sections

Beyond the detailed account of the institutional progress in the Momentum Plan for 2024, it is important to highlight that the College’s strength with respect to student success is not centered around this subset of strategies and activities, but it is a cultural commitment to supporting every student, every time, which is a golden thread woven throughout all college operations.

The Student Success and Completion team continues to meet, now in the form of workgroups with detailed action plans around student success, engagement, and guidance. Other strategies and activities not included in this report continue to be adjusted and revised to maintain a proactive approach to supporting students, and include (among many others):

Intrusive and proactive success monitoring campaigns:
- Course engagement monitoring during the first week of classes,
- Attendance monitoring during the second week,
- Early alert reports during weeks 3-4,
- Midterm course attendance and engagement evaluation during weeks 7-8,
- Academic risk assessment during weeks 9-10,
- Advising and registration support throughout the term, and
- Weekly “Always Alert” referrals.
- In Spring 2024, there were 32,477 points-of-contact between COMPASS advisors and students enrolled at the college.
Through various communities of practice and engagements led by the Center for Teaching and Learning, faculty often engage in discussion and activities (like book groups and peer-led pedagogy seminars) to promote and celebrate best practices and identify opportunities to promote student success.
We have fully implemented and integrated core IMPACTS into our classrooms and courses.
Implementation of ePortfolios to help students collect and present works from across their college career that they can present to prospective employers. It also serves as a record and reminder to students of their own development.
Administrative processes and procedures are regularly evaluated to ensure that they are not presenting roadblocks to students and are helping the institution deliver a seamless and supportive student experience.
The COMPASS Center continues to monitor student progression as part of their yearly unit assessment.
- In the Fall 2023 cohort, 42% of continuously enrolled freshmen attempted 30+ hours by the end of Summer 2024.
- In the Fall 2022 cohort, 45% of continuously enrolled freshmen attempted 60+ hours by the end of Summer 2024. (This is 8% more than the comparable cohort from Fall 2021).
Beyond Academics, our colleagues in Student Affairs have increased their work to develop and maintain stronger feelings of belonging among students, with new orientation activities and relationship-building events during welcome week on campus.

Observations and Next Steps

What strategies and activities have been most successful? What have been least effective? How has your institution made adjustments to your completion activities over the past year? Where would you want to see student success efforts shift in the coming year(s)?

Through the work of the Student Success and Completion Team, the College has adjusted numerous processes to improve the transition to college, by reducing barriers, providing guidance, and promoting a sense of belonging through more supportive language in all communications. Additionally, intrusive monitoring campaigns and protocols have been devised and implemented to keep students on track to progress and graduate. We are happy to report that our current fall-to-fall retention rate for First-time Full-time Freshman is now at 56.6% (Fall 2024), which is an improvement from the post-pandemic rate of 52.2% (Fall 2020). We continue to work towards the retention rate prior to the pandemic which was at 60.6% (Fall 2019).

The development of a post-admit checklist was intended to help guide students from admission to registration. For the Fall 2023, 28.2% of students admitted to the college registered for classes. In comparison, for Fall 2024, those numbers are 29.4%. While this is very preliminary data, we are hoping that it somewhat indicates that our post-admit checklist is helping ease our students’ navigation through admission and registration. We hope that the creation of a customized dynamic checklist will have even greater effects on the registration to admission rate.

Our work to promote and implement high-impact practices through the establishment of the Endeavor Center for High-Impact practices has proved fruitful. Faculty are participating, and more exciting, students are heavily motivated to obtain badges that they lack. The creation of a leaderboard has inspired students to seek out more opportunities to earn HIP badges. This program has been extremely successful, and participation continues to climb.

Last year, after the establishment of the First-Year Experience Course (DECK 1000), we were met with some unexpected data. However, the population of those students in the initial pilot was somewhat skewed. We are happy to report a more positive result from this year’s preliminary data and hope to see even more positive strides for the Fall-to-Fall retention rates as we continue to develop DECK 1000.

We briefly lost traction on our pursuit of determining the feasibility of adopting inclusive textbook access. However, we are back on track and will begin surveying the faculty this Fall 2024 semester. Our focus will always be student success, and we want to ensure that in adopting inclusive access we are not inadvertently creating a barrier for students. This could particularly be the case if a large number of courses have already adopted Open Educational Resources, thereby making inclusive textbook access unnecessary and an additional financial burden.

As we move forward, we will continue to carefully analyze proposed activities through the lens of student success. We will continue to make modifications to current processes and develop the programs and activities that seem to have the greatest impact on success as measured by enrollment, retention, and progression, and we will continue to seek input from stakeholders across campus to ensure we are analyzing our efforts from all angles. This work will have additional support and data from our engagement with NISS as our playbook is developed. We will work to merge our current work with the Playbook as it becomes available.

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