Members of the Joint Leadership Council made few changes to the report of the branding focus groups and surveys.

They were briefed during their meeting Monday morning by Rob Fenty, who organized the research. The research included focus groups of current and potential MHCC students and surveyed current students during classes and randomly.

Fenty said the purpose of the surveys and focus groups were to “understand the student and what’s driving them to be here. What is their perception of the value of the experience? How well is that experience matching that value?”

The report said that most students are between the age of 20 and 29. A majority are taking transfer classes and 34 percent are attending full-time. When asked why they attended MHCC, participants of the focus groups and surveys listed programs/specific courses, location of the college and tuition costs as the three main reasons, respectively. And the three most important issues, according to the study, are other students, class/curriculum and faculty.

Using these facts and figures, the study concluded that most students attend within a few years out of high school and the main focus of students is the programs and curriculum. Thusly, the JLC will be forming committees to plan MHCC promotions to high school students, marketing programs, improving the experience of MHCC students and the “brand promise.” These groups will meet and form a plan for the next three years. They plan to complete a marketing strategy by July and implement as many programs as soon as possible to affect enrollment for fall ’06.

A presentation will be made to the MHCC District Board Wednesday with the conclusions of the study and the JLC. College President Robert Silverman has high hopes for the presentation, saying, “They love everything in this so far.”