February 21, 2019
CCC MyPath, a student services platform designed for California’s Community Colleges, is proving to be an effective onboarding tool in conjunction with CCCApply. By presenting students with tailored, campus-specific information immediately after submitting an application, CCC MyPath guides students to the information they need to enroll and begin pursuing their educational goals.
In fall 2018, Sierra College launched its implementation of CCC MyPath to improve the student experience after CCCApply. Previously, after completing their applications, students were shown a landing page with a list of links but no clear direction.
According to Julia Arreguy, Manager of Software Integration for the Student Services and Support Program at Sierra College, “The feedback we got was that students would get to this page and close their browser. They weren’t sure what this page meant, or their next steps. What’s more, there were many students who, for myriad reasons – such as invalid email addresses or residency issues – weren’t contacted by the college in a reasonable amount of time after applying, and they became stuck in the process.”
Now, Sierra College’s CCCApply application lands on the CCC MyPath interface, which is branded with the Sierra College logo and campus pictures so students know they are directly interacting with the college. But the fundamental value comes in the form of “advisor cards,” a set of recommended actions with links that point to the appropriate resource. Colleges can configure CCC MyPath to display a predetermined set of advisor cards, or apply rules to dynamically respond to students’ individual needs or interests based on information supplied in CCCApply.
Sierra College plans to leverage the rules engine in the near future. However, for its launch Sierra College chose to highlight four key actions relevant to most new students:
- Apply for financial aid;
- Download Sierra’s mobile app;
- Explore careers and programs; and
- Read the welcome email (or contact the Student Help Center if it was not received).
Results from the first three months of usage are compelling, according to Arreguy. Of 7,434 students who applied to Sierra College between October 1 and December 31, 2018, more than 80% accessed CCC MyPath links – and a significant number accessed the financial aid and welcome email/contact us cards.
“I was impressed with those numbers because it tells us that the vast majority of students are at least looking at those cards, and they are looking at things we know can be helpful to them,” Arreguy stated.
Arreguy was also pleased with its mobile app downloads, which allows the college to send push notifications reminding students of their next steps. “We saw a 20 percent increase in the number of students who downloaded our mobile app from October 1 to December 31 as compared to the previous year,” Arreguy said, noting that the CCC MyPath advisor card most likely contributed to the increase.
Easily configurable by college staff, CCC MyPath does not require IT resources to customize the advisor cards or create rules, according to Mike Caruso, CCC MyPath Product Manager. Because it is tightly integrated with CCCApply, workflows can be customized to put CCC MyPath before or after the application.
Arreguy and Caruso will share more about Sierra College’s successful integration of CCC MyPath in two presentations at the upcoming Chief Information Systems Officers Association annual conference, which is February 24-27, 2019. In a Tuesday session from 1:45 to 2:30 p.m., both will present “CCC MyPath: A Bridge from Application to Enrollment.” On Wednesday from 8:15 to 9:15 a.m., Arreguy will also present “Integrating Banner, Starfish, MyPath, Luminis, and Degree Works and Mobile Apps to Support Guided Pathways.”
A presentation of Sierra College’s initial experience with CCC MyPath, recorded October 17, 2018, is available to view at this link.
For an overview of how CCC MyPath can complement your college’s existing student portal in support of the Guided Pathways framework, click here.
If you would like to learn more about how CCC MyPath can meet the specific needs of your college, please contact the CCC Technology Center college relationship managers at crms@ccctechcenter.org.