Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District – Seamless Academic Transfer

The Challenge

The path of attending community college is often viewed as the second choice or as a less desirable option to a four-year university. Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District hired Nuffer, Smith, Tucker to develop a positioning platform to help the district communicate the benefits of attending a community college, what the district can offer students and to overcome the "second choice" stigma. NST was also tasked with developing a student tabloid to be used as an enrollment outreach tool.

The Tactics

Using its proprietary planning process, NST developed and implemented a positioning strategy to help key audiences view Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District as offering a clear, seamless path toward a four-year university degree. To build awareness of its academic transfer systems, NST also conceptualized, wrote and designed a four-page tabloid with topics including transfer programs, financial aid, student life, types and flexibility of courses, student letters and success stories, letter from the chancellor, and student service information. Before implementation, the student tabloid’s content and design was tested with focus groups.