In every team and department at Northwest Vista College, there are always great stories to tell that show faculty and staff going above and beyond.While it’s hard to capture every story, we hope to periodically share in this space some of the major accomplishments or projects that are taking place. Members of the executive team will write about important topics that they feel NVC employees should be made aware of. Let us know about the positive things your area is doing to help students or improve processes by contacting myself or NVC Marketing & Strategic Communication.
– Dr. Ric Baser, NVC President
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Robin Lund,
Dean for NVC Student Success, Advising and Enrollment
With the fall semester fully underway, students are one step closer to achieving their degrees. For many of our part-time students, our mini terms, such as Flex I, Flex II, Wintermester, and Maymester are great opportunities to increase hours and shorten paths to graduation. Not only are these compressed terms a great way to pick up another course, students may also find it to be more manageable to commit to an eight or three-week format, rather than a full 16 weeks.
Currently, students can still register for Flex II courses through Oct. 11. Students with financial aid should consult with the financial aid team to verify if there will be any out-of-pocket expenses.
As part of our Strategic Enrollment Planning, we are examining ways to schedule these compressed terms to offer courses in a way that will support student retention, progress, and completion. These shorter terms help support our focus on becoming a “part-time student ready” college.
In addition to supporting our students’ paths to graduation, increased enrollment intensity through these shorter terms contributes to our smart-growth targets. These targets include monitoring headcount closely, and tracking contact hours or the number of credit hours that students are taking overall.
We have learned during this pandemic that more than ever our students need more choices and access to classes. Without that, they will take fewer number of classes, which eventually hurts our funding as a college and takes longer for a student to earn their degree.
Many students may not realize NVC offers these shorter terms, and we hope our faculty and staff can help communicate those opportunities.