saddleback college community benchmark report presentation

SADDLEBACK COLLEGECOMMUNITY BENCHMARK

REPORT PRESENTATION

Saddleback College Onsite MeetingNovember 2013, Mission Viejo, CA

Pam Cox-Otto, Ph.D. - Interact CommunicationsCEO and Head of Research

RESEARCHCOMMUNITY BENCHMARK

Research Summary A phone survey was conducted during June 7-14, 2013 400 residents of the Saddleback College district participated in the study This data was compared to a similar study that was conducted in 2008

SADDLEBACK COLLEGE COMMUNITY BENCHMARK REPORT PRESENTATION

DEMOGRAPHICS



Demographics Average survey participant age was 46 In random calling, nearly two in five have attended Saddleback College 17.8 percent have no experience with Saddleback College Nearly three-quarters (72.5 percent) of respondents mentioned Saddleback College as “top-of-mind”


Gender: Male/Female 50/50


Age: Age 46 was the mean for this sample


Race/Ethnicity Approximately three-quarters of the sample were White/Caucasian Hispanic/Latino respondents of varying backgrounds comprised 10.4 percent of the sample



Education Level98 % Had a high school education3 in 5 completed a bachelor’s degree or higherConsistent with the region


OPEN-ENDED RESPONSES



Unaided Recall First Five Questions are Open Ended

Name a college in this area (Top of Mind)

What have you heard about Saddleback College

Where did you hear that?

How Long Ago?

What programs, services or events come to mind when you think of Saddleback College?


Top of Mind

Participants in this study were asked to name local colleges

No Priming

Who comes to mind is indicative of Primacy




Top of Mind When you think of local colleges, what colleges come to mind?



Top of Mind

Nearly ¾ of the sample named Saddleback College as the first college in the area that came to mindSignificant increase from the 2008 results of 36.5 percent There was a marked decrease in the number of colleges mentioned; In 2008, 57 colleges were initially mentioned -- that has decreased to just 20 colleges in 2013 UC Irvine remains second in the area in “top of mind”



What have you heard about Saddleback College?

Percentage is calculated from the 400 participants2013 greater awareness of Saddleback

Half of the sample had heard of the college and know it as a community college Negative comments were primarily centered around the difficulty of getting classes



Where did you hear that?

Increase in awareness of Saddleback

Greater than half of the sample suggests that people are talking about the college, and primarily have good things to say

NEW QUESTION in 2013 COMMUNITY BENCHMARK


What programs, services or events come to mind when you think of Saddleback College?

1st: Transfer and General Education

2nd: Sports/Athletics

3rd: Theater and Performing Arts

SCALED RESPONSES



Items and Variables

Six-point Likert scale, forced choice Measure levels of awareness, satisfaction and reputation

Items measure a single element, but can be combined into variables

Confidence Intervals of +/-5%



Items and Variables The items and variables being benchmarked from 2008 to 2013 are:

Relevance Support (Helping Students Succeed) Business and Industry Local Training Quality Job Efficacy Educational Value Transfer ResponsivenessNEW in 2013: Funding Support

Intentions toward Saddleback College


Relevance I am interested in information about Saddleback College.

1 in 3 “strongly disagree” that they are interested.

Mode as well

This was also true in 2008

5+% increase in those who are not interested


Relevance I pay attention to information about Saddleback College.

• 22.8 percent “slightly disagree” that they pay attention

• This is a 10% increase since 2008


Support Saddleback College offers services to help students do well in college.

• Statisticall

y Significant Increase (7%) in

Strength of

Attitudes


Quality Saddleback College provides a high-quality education.

Nearly 3 in 5 “agree” or “strongly agree” that Saddleback College provides high-quality education

The perception of quality has increased slightly from 2008 to 2013



Quality The quality of education you get at Saddleback College is not very good (r).

¾ of respondents “strongly disagree” or “disagree” that the quality of education received at Saddleback is not very good

The Community is defensive on your behalf


Educational Value I think Saddleback College is a good educational value.

Statistically Significant increase in perception of educational value (10.4%) The most frequent response was “strongly agree” with 36.9 percent


Educational Value I don’t think Saddleback College is a good educational value (r).

21% Shift in strength of attitudes toward educational value

The community is strongly defensive of perceptions of value

The mode (54.3%) was “strongly disagree”


Transfer Attending Saddleback College for two years and then transferring to a four-year college is a smart choice.

Saddle made make huge strides in perception of being THE transfer path

The mode was “strongly agree,” with 55.2 percent

This is a 22% positive shift from 2008


Transfer It is difficult to transfer from Saddleback College to a four-year college or university (r).

When asked if it is difficult to transfer from Saddleback, the most common response was “strongly disagree,” with 34.6 percent


Responsiveness Saddleback College is responsive to community needs.

Still strong… but slipping

46.0 percent “agree” or “strongly agree” that Saddleback College is responsive to community needs The most frequent response was “agree,” with 28.6 percent. This a 10 percent decline from the 2008 result of 39.1 percent


Local Training Saddleback College is doing the right things to help people train for jobs in my community.

63.8 percent agree that the Saddleback College is doing the right things to train for jobs in the community Although 3 in 5 are positive, the most frequent response was “slightly disagree,” with 25.2 percent


Local Training Saddleback College needs to do more to help people train for jobs in my community (r).

In 2008, more than 2 in 5 “agree or strongly agree” that the college should be doing more to help train for jobs in the community.

This dropped to 1 in 3 in 2013


Job Efficacy Saddleback College is very effective in training people for jobs.

Slightly more than 3 in 5 (62.9 percent) still think positively of job training, but there has been a negative shift in opinion over the last five years

This is most likely environmentally based


Job Efficacy People who graduate from Saddleback College get good- paying jobs.

The most frequent response in 2008 was “slightly agree,” with 31.8 percent The most frequent response in 2013 is “slightly disagree,” with 35.0 percent

Job Market expectations are strongly suggested


Job Efficacy Employers respect technical training from Saddleback College.

In 2008, the community was supportive of the technical training available at Saddleback College Technical training perception has seen a negative shift since 2008; slightly more than half (54.2 percent) are now ambivalent (“slightly disagree” or “slightly agree”)


Business and Industry Saddleback College is doing the right things to help business and industry.

More than half (55%) agree Saddleback College is doing the right things

However, the most frequent response was “slightly disagree” with 32.2 percent


Business and Industry Saddleback College needs to do more to help business and industry (r).

Nearly 3 out of 5 disagree that Saddleback needs to do more to help business and industryDoing the Right Things versus More is the issue

This disconnect with B&I could use more research

NEW QUESTIONS


Funding Support How likely is it that you would consider making a donation to support Saddleback College?

15.6 percent are “somewhat likely, likely or very likely” to donate.

The most frequent response was “not likely at all” (56.5 percent)

Those willing to give tend to be female, 40+, and college educated


Funding SupportHow likely is it that you would consider making a donation to support scholarships for students at Saddleback College?

19.3% are “somewhat likely, likely or very likely” to support scholarships

Those willing to give tend to be female, 35+, with some college



Funding Support If you would consider supporting programs and services at Saddleback, what would those be?

149 participants said they had no interest in giving at all for any reason The largest percentage interest for donation would be to scholarship funds.

INTENTIONS TOWARD SADDLEBACK


Intent by Purpose How likely is it that you or a family member would consider Saddleback College for job training to help you advance your career?

Significant growth (12%) in the strongest attitudes.

Significant decline (13%) in the extreme negative attitudes.


Intent by Purpose How likely is it that you or a family member would ever consider attending Saddleback College?

1/3 say they (or a family member) are “very likely” to consider attending Saddleback.

This is a 17% shift in Extreme Positive attitudes.

At the same time… a 12% decline in the extreme negative.


Intent by Purpose How likely is it that you or a family member would consider attending Saddleback College in order to transfer to a four-year college or university?

13% Swing in the VERY likely

16% Decline in the Not Likely Group



Findings

• Saddleback has cemented its spot as a top college in the minds of respondents by a wide margin.

• Many of the shifts in the data from the Saddleback College community image survey may be attributed to economic and environmental factors.

• Saddleback continues to be known for quality and value of education.

• Given economic concerns, it is not surprising that the value of the transfer function has grown in popularity.



Findings (2)

• The support measured for foundation and fundraising efforts is positive and consistent with community populations. The Foundation has a fertile field of potential donors, with one in five of the voter sample ready to consider a donation for scholarships.

• There is a sea-change in attitudes toward attending a Saddleback college.

• A large increase among those who think it’s a GREAT idea!

• A large decrease among the naysayers.



Recommendations

• The general college marketing message of “good value” and “quality” has stuck in the minds of the community.

• The Foundation has a green light for extended development activities, and the community is ready to consider this.

• Transfer degrees are eclipsing career training in popularity and perceived value, and should continue to be touted in marketing efforts.

• There is a class availability issue (whether real or perceived) that needs to be addressed with the community.

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saddleback college community benchmark report presentation

Documents

saddleback college district

local colleges

number of colleges

percent of respondents

similar study

phone survey

significant increase

mission viejo