Access
In-District Penetration Rate
Indicator Rationale: Core to a community colleges mission is serving those who reside within their college district boundaries. One way to measure this is to determine the percent of people who are registered in any course offered by college, which is often referred to as market penetration. This measure helps colleges understand who they are serving and whether they are reaching their desired demographic population. This measure is also inclusive, as it represents the depth and breadth of all institutional offerings.
Indicator Definition: COCC’s penetration rate is defined by any individual, 15 or older, who is enrolled in any COCC credit or noncredit course. It includes Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties. It does not currently include COCC’s small footprints in Southern Wasco and Klamath Counties due to data limitations.
Target Rationale: During the past few years, COCC served an average of 5.7% of the tri-county residents age 15 and older. Recognizing that it would take more than 2,000 students for a full percent gain, we set incremental growth from the 2022-23 baseline year of 5.6%. This reflects anticipated expanded programming in Madras and Bend, as well as an overall enrollment increase. The College received updated data during the 2024-25 academic year and as such, updated year 2, 3, and 4 targets in alignment with that data.
Peer Institutions: District penetration rate is not tracked at a national or state level so peer institution data is not available.
In-District Tuition and Fees
Indicator Rationale: Primary components of any community college’s purpose are to serve its local service area and maintain affordability. Maintaining an affordable in-district tuition rate, while maintaining quality programs and services, ensures that COCC can best serve students throughout our district and support them in reaching their goals. Moreover, affordability also supports COCC’s commitment to expanding access for in-district residents.
Indicator Definition: This indicator is measured based on data from the Oregon Business Officers that shares the tuition and fees for all Oregon community colleges. Only fees that are universally applied to all students are included.
Target Rationale: One aspect of COCC’s Strategic Plan access goal focuses on providing equitable opportunities for students, which the College has partially defined as affordability. In alignment with this goal, the COCC Board of Directors set a goal of the College’s in-district tuition and fees remaining in the bottom quarter compared to other Oregon community colleges.
Peer Institutions: Oregon Community Colleges
Underrepresented Students
Indicator Rationale: The Higher Education Coordinating Commission identified four student populations as priority populations as part of its new Oregon community college funding model: Low-income, adult learners, students of color, and career and technical education students. National research indicates that these populations are traditionally underserved in higher education. While COCC is currently providing specialized support for many of these populations, a review of these programs aligns with the College’s goals of being a student-ready institution as well as increasing access.
Indicator Definition: Students who were enrolled in reimbursable courses from the prioritized populations: Low-income (Pell or Oregon Opportunity Grant recipients), adult learners (age 25 and older), students of color (BILAPOC) and Career Technical Education (CTE) and Workforce Training.
Target Rationale: The State of Oregon prioritized a focus on these populations. Recognizing that students may have one or more of these characteristics, we coalesced all indicators into one higher-level indicator. The target rationale for each population includes:
Low-Income: Pell/OOG students declined during and immediately after the pandemic, although are starting to increase at COCC and nationally. Therefore, targets are set to align with this growth.
Adult Learners: COCC is growing programs that traditionally serve adult learners (CPL, CBIPD, Madras programs) as such, targets are set to align with this growth.
Students of Color: COCC’s BILAPOC population is growing and even though it exceeds that of the Central Oregon population, the College values growing this number, especially as it expands student supports. Recent trends suggest this population is not growing as quickly as hoped so targets adjusted to reflect a more realistic yet stretch goal.
CTE/Workforce Training: COCC is growing its CTE and workforce training credit and noncredit programs. As such, enrollment of CTE/workforce students should increase and targets are set to align with this direction.
Peer Institutions: The Higher Education Coordinating Commission has yet to develop a mechanism for providing peer comparison data back to the community colleges so no comparison is available at this time.
Online Courses and Programs
Indicator Rationale: Online courses provide access to higher education for students throughout COCC’s service district, some of whom may not be able to travel to COCC campuses, have work or family obligations that prevent them from taking in-person classes, or prefer online learning. Meeting the differentiated needs of students includes offering online instruction and further advances the Colleges’ access goal.
Indicator Definition: The indicator measures the headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) of students enrolled in online courses and the number of credit courses and sections offered. Currently, several disciplines offer most or all of their classes online, but at this time, COCC is not considering these as fully online programs because some of the required support courses may or may not be offered online. This action project’s work will help move the College towards its goal of developing fully online programs. However, that is not yet an indicator as foundational work is needed.
Target Rationale: Targets are based on the aggregation of sub-indicators as compared to the 2022-23 benchmark year. Numeric targets are set up in ranges that represent a settling or growth pattern over time (not counting pandemic years) even though a single year may swing upward or downward within the parameters defined.
Headcount/FTE: As more courses and sections are offered, increased headcount and FTE will demonstrate growth in student access.
Courses/Sections: As online courses fill, additional sections are created. Further, the College is responding to regional workforce demands by exploring online-only programs to increase number of educational opportunities accessible to students.
Peer Institutions: National and state comparison data is yet to be explored so no comparator institution data is available at this time.