On Aug. 19, ahead of the fall 2024 semester, Grand Rapids Community College President Charles Lepper gave an enrollment update to the Board of Trustees and highlighted new marketing efforts as the college recently adopted the slogan, “Together, we’ve got this.”
As of Monday’s meeting, there are 11,603 enrolled students for the upcoming semester and the college’s goal is to see 13,000 students this fall. Lepper predicts GRCC will hit its goal between more students getting signed up prior to Aug. 26 and the second session of the semester.
During his report, Lepper mentioned that many students have been struggling with the FAFSA. Students experiencing FAFSA problems who are eligible for state funding, either the Reconnect program or the Michigan Community College Guarantee, have had their spots in classes held and have not been dropped from their enrolled classes.
“We’ve identified students who may be impacted by the difficulty of financial aid and we’re not dropping them for non-payment until we can get everything figured out and get this settled,” said Lepper.
Lyndsie Post, Executive Director of Marketing Communications, has led the charge for the new marketing initiative with the tagline “Together, we’ve got this.” Post came up with this phrase after meeting with various stakeholders and departments across campus.
“Together, we’ve got this is not just a tagline,” said Post. “It’s a promise that encapsulates our beliefs in the prospective community and collective efforts in achieving personal and academic success. GRCC is here to help every student on their way. No one goes through their educational journey alone, and that is really the epitome of the campaign.”
This campaign promotes GRCC as well as state aid programs such as Reconnect and the CC Guarantee. The promotion consists of billboards, digital ads, print ads and radio promotion and Post estimates a total of around $140,000 was spent on the campaign.
All ads are available in both English and Spanish and promote different locations where students can take classes.
Trustee David Koetje asked Lepper if he believes that GRCC is ready for the potential success of this campaign.
Lepper responded that this is what the college has spent years preparing for and that they are working toward a more robust academic advising experience for incoming students, saying “we are engaged in those processes, I wish I could say we have them all figured out, but we are certainly engaged in building towards that.”
In other news, the Board discussed and approved a new Michigan job training program with Holland packing company Coastal Container.
GRCC will be entering a $500,000 economic development partnership with Coastal Container that will add 39 positions to their company and provide individuals with training over a five year period. Megan Connaghan, manager, customized corporate training and MNJP, gave more information about what these training programs will consist of.
“Postal containers, specifically the training that we’re gonna be doing. There’s a lot of specific maintenance operator type training, safety training, new hire orientation, leadership training,” said Connaghan.
Connaghan said the length of time spent training will depend on the individual. Some will train over the entire five years, while others will only spend a portion of that time on training.
Vice President for Finance and Administration Lisa Freiburger told The Collegiate that GRCC may play a role to help develop the initial training and later have it available to students but that “the primary driver of this program is really economic development and then sending employers to add positions in our region.”
As the college rounds out its fiscal year, Freiburger told the board that revenue is higher than budget in multiple areas, such as tuition and property tax.
The board also approved the following list of purchases over $100,000.
- The Financial Aid Department received the FAFSA Frenzy from the Michigan College Access Network to assist them in conducting FAFSA events throughout the summer ($10,000)
- The American Association of Community Colleges, in partnership with the All Within My Hands Foundation, awarded the Workforce Training units its sixth continuation of the Metallica Scholars grant. This program provides tuition support for non-traditional students in the welding program. ($5,000)
- Play and Learn GRCC received a grant to continue delivering play and learn services in the community as part of the suite of programs funded through the Ready by Five millage. a($507,224)
- The Workforce Training unit received its annual continuation of the Older Americans Act grant. This grant supports the Arthritis Foundation Aquatics and Enhanced Fitness programs, which help participants to maintain independence through increased and/or maintained physical fitness. ($17,700)
- The Workforce Training unit received its annual continuation of the Kent County Senior Millage grant that supports fitness classes for senior citizens. ($9,900)
- The Workforce Training unit received an Innovative Water Infrastructure Workforce Development grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to support training for, and public awareness of, water/wastewater occupations ($1,000,000)
The board also announced that former board liaison and Chief-of-Staff Misty McClure Anderson has moved into a different role and will now be serving as the Human Resources Operations Manager. Her multiple year tenure was fondly remembered by her colleagues, as multiple trustees such as Kenyatta Brame and Koetje vocalized appreciation for her.
“She was the backbone of smooth Board meetings,” Koetje said about McClure Anderson. “We just want to publicly state how much I appreciated that.”
The next Board of Trustees meeting will be held on Monday, September 16.
