2019–20 Annual Report

A transition to virtual orientation, an overhauled summer and fall class schedule, more than $26 million awarded in emergency grant assistance, and a new campus-wide COVID-19 training. What do all of these have in common? They’re just a handful of the accomplishments made by our highly adaptable and fiercely dedicated Enrollment Services team.

Over the last seven months, the challenges faced by the University of Houston’s Enrollment Services team has seemed, at times, insurmountable. How do we evaluate prospective students who aren’t able to take the SAT or ACT test? How do we successfully transition students in federal work-study jobs to remote operations? How do we process students’ requests to change their grades in accordance with the interim grade policy? How do we communicate all these evolving changes with prospective students, newly admitted students, current students, and other stakeholders?

The answer? Collaboration, strong leadership, and creative problem-solving.

As the country began to close in spring, the Enrollment Services team quickly pivoted in-person appointments to virtual appointments in an effort to continue to serve students amid the pandemic. From March to the end of August, the team held more than 5,000 of these virtual appointments. They assisted students with questions and issues around admissions, financial aid, adding or dropping classes, and much more.

Enrollment Services’ virtual presence continues to evolve now that each department has set its own foundation. Traditionally, the Office of Admissions relied on in-person experiences to engage and connect with new and prospective students. Now, Admissions has a robust virtual tour offering, ranging from academic college sessions to one-on-one zoom calls with current students. New Student Orientation has been completely transformed to be an entirely virtual event. Taking what they’ve learned from spring, the Admissions team is offering their very first all virtual Cougar Preview this fall.

Another major initiative was the launch of the new test optional policy, allowing prospective students to apply without an SAT or ACT score. This had a lot of moving parts, including implementing a self-report GPA functionality and adjusting our traditional scholarship selection process. Enrollment Services Research and Reporting collected and analyzed the data that made it all possible.

The Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid took on the monumental task of distributing more than $26 million in emergency grant assistance to students in need. They also transitioned all eligible federal work study students to working remotely and awarded Emergency Federal Work Study Grants to eligible students that were unable to work due to the pandemic.

Students faced several new obstacles this year, including the uncertainty of whether they would be able to take classes on campus. The Office of the University Registrar worked tirelessly to completely reengineer the Fall 2020 class schedule and introduce students to three new instruction formats: HyFlex, Asynchronous, and Synchronous. They also processed requests for grade changes due to the interim grading policy, providing flexibility as students transitioned to online classes.

As a limited number of students, staff, and faculty began to return to campus, it became necessary to ensure that all students undergo a COVID-19 training and acknowledgements. In just under two weeks, Campus Solutions Services successfully launched Activity Guides, making the training available to over 80,000+ students across the UH System. This department also played a major role in many of the other Enrollment Services accomplishments.

Throughout the year, the Office of Integrated Enrollment Services led efforts to contact students facing new, pandemic-related barriers to finishing their degrees or enrolling at the University. For example, in early March, they reached out to every student who requested a withdrawal from the University, identifying issues and solving problems to keep each student in school. For students who needed additional help enrolling, they implemented a robust plan to reopen the Welcome Center with limited capacity in the fall, keeping our staff and students’ safety at the forefront of this endeavor.

The Enrollment Services Communications and Marketing department played a key role in contributing to each department’s needs by offering continuous support and guidance. They also made sure students at every stage of the enrollment funnel stayed informed, giving them clear and concise communication, all while assuring the students that we are, in fact, all in this together.

These are just a few tasks undertaken by the Enrollment Services team in the last seven months. Team members have truly thrived in times when just the smallest day-to-day tasks seemed impossible.