Case Studies
CourseStorm Case Study: Manchester Community College
CourseStorm helped Manchester Community College’s Workforce Development and Community Education program achieve a substantial increase in the number of enrollments through a streamlined, easy-to-use registration experience.
The Background
Manchester Community College (MCC) located in Manchester, NH has a finely tuned program focused on workforce development. Their learning community includes those looking to gain skills, pursue career advancement, or maintain professional certifications. These opportunities are key for their mixed audience of rural and urban students.
The Challenge
Many community college workforce and continuing education programs struggle with a clunky registration system that is designed for credit classes and does not meet the unique enrollment and payment needs of non-credit education. Because of this, the MCC workforce development program didn’t use any formal system before CourseStorm. The students were required to register in person and pay by cash or check during daytime office hours.
“When you looked at our audience who were either looking for work or trying to improve their work skills, it just wasn’t convenient for them to have to come to our office to register for a class. Before, they had to have a touch point to register for classes, and because of this, we missed a lot of people.”
—Kristine Dudley, Director, Workforce Development at Manchester Community College
Their target audience was either busy job searching or looking to improve their skills in a current job. Not allowing students to register for classes outside of business hours and conveniently pay online, clearly affected the program’s growth. MCC quickly realized they needed a system geared toward non-credit classes if they planned to grow their enrollments.
The Solution
The system in place was not user-friendly for non-credit classes and was turning students away. So when MCC decided to go with CourseStorm, it was a smooth transition.
“CourseStorm is just so easy to use! We were able to get up and running quickly and start offering classes right away.”
Students are now able to view, register, and pay online using a credit card —without being restricted to the operating hours of MCC’s facility. The ease of use and ability to pay online is an excellent solution for registrants; for administrators, the system is user-friendly and provides savings of both cost and time.
The Results
MCC has been using CourseStorm to manage its online catalog and registration system for more than two years now. The program has achieved an increase in the number of overall registrations and early enrollments. The streamlined online payment system gives students convenience and more options when it comes to paying for courses. These features also helped increase student satisfaction—giving MCC a strong positive presence in the community.
“The product is easy to use and has grown enrollments. In the end, it is the ease of doing business with our customers that have made the biggest difference. I’d highly recommend CourseStorm to anyone looking for a solution to manage their course registrations.”
To see how we might help your program or more information, email contact@coursestorm.com or call us at (207) 866-0328.
Nic Lyons
Nic is skilled in scaling start-up edtech and education organizations to growth-stage success through innovative marketing. A former journalist and copywriter, Nic holds a postgraduate certificate in digital and print publishing from Columbia University School of Journalism's publishing course.