The Mission of the Support Center is to provide quality support to students, faculty and staff, and the general public by answering questions and delivering accurate information regarding enrollment, registration, and other campus services and resources.
The Support Center resides under the Student Services branch of the college overseen by the Vice President of Student Services and a Dean of Student Services. Our unit takes direction a Dean from Student Services. The Support Center was established to provide personalized assistance to students and to enhance the customer service experience by increasing first call resolution at the college. By answering a number of commonly asked questions we provide assistance and free up resources at the department level.
The Support Center provides information to new students about the steps to enroll, navigation to the six steps to financial aid, important dates and deadlines, ID retrieval, MyBC login assistance, student email assistance, general navigation, busing information, fee information, cashiering and registration services, and assistance with contacting college departments and personnel.
The Support Center is comprised of:
� One (1) full-time Support Center Representative
� One (1) full-time bilingual Support Center Representative
� Five (5) Support Center Representatives who are
permanent part-time 24 hour employees (1 VACANT)
� One (1) part-time grant funded Spanish speaking
Center Representative through Student Equity
� One (1) full-time Student Services Supervisor
During peak periods our call volume can exceed more than 500 calls per day. A monitoring software would allow the Support center to be more effectively manage resources, align staffing with peak student demand, and minimize caller wait times.
The Support Center was included in the 2016 Admissions and Records Program review. The Program Review validation team recommended the Call Center obtain a system for tracking calls, monitoring the volume of calls and providing data to analyze outcomes. The Call Centers ability to implement this recommendation is solely dependent upon securing funding through the augmentation requests. This request is the 3rd item on the Call Center's Augmentation requests.
Strategy 1 - Quality Information and Access to Students
The Support Center is often the first point of contact for students. It is our goal to get students timely answers in the most efficient manner possible.
The last few years we established a Student Services Website accessable on the main web page "get help here" It would be helpful for students to have an entry point like the "ASK ME" symbol place throughout our website.
Strategy 2 - Customer Service and Sustainability
To provide the best service to students in a sustainable manner, I wish to mantain the most knowledgeable Support Cneter staffing level possible.
This requires us to stay knowledgeable of all areas of the college in order to accurately share the Steps to Enroll, our programs and services as well as all the resources that students and staff can use to select and complete their goals.
The Support Center has experienced a significant amount of staff turnover in the last year. Well trained staff are critical for answering student questions thoroughly, accurately, and efficiently. This is particularly true during peak call times.
Strategy 3 - Utilizing Technology for Information Access
Continued improvement of online services and navigation for students to self-serve. Main areas that students continue to have difficulty finding and understanding are:
Continually adding new functionality and services online through ongoing utilizing of newer technologies impowers students, reduces frustration, improves academic success and reduces phone calls.
This last year we implemented a Student Services FAQ page to help students navigate to services that continue to be difficult to find on our website.
We also provided an online help email service that continues to grow as students find this an alternative self serve option useful and timely.
Strategy 4 - Ongoing support to Spanish Speakers
We currently have (1) full-time Spanish speaker to assist with our Latino population. Student Equity funds and we were granted (1) Half-time worker.
This support has allowed us to request and acquire a queuing system which now allows students to be assisted with a live operator each and every call. We brought this on board and we have tripled the amount of Spanish speakers we are able to assist. This extra position was funded through Student Equity. We will continue to apply for Student Equity funding to provide two Spanish speakers to give the coverage needed to effectively serve this growing population. This is especially needed now that the Butte College Promise Scholarship Program is available to this population of Dreamers and AB540's. It is also my understanding that we are close to being a Hispanic Serving Institution which gives us more funding.
Having Spanish speaking staff for set hours allow us to advertise a live operator to be available for students to get personalized assistance. We have found this population is hesitant to leave messages or ask questions without an actual operator to assist them. Having (2) operators online for the hours we are open or set hours of Spanish speakers is important to provide equal services to this population.
With additional staff we would also be able to reach out to current Latino students and assist them with online services. Getting these students online where most of our services are we hope will assist with their success.
The Support Center has used SSSP, non-credit SSSP and Student Equity funds on an as-needed basis and will continue to do so as needs arise.
LAST YEARS FUNDING
2019 Fiscal Year
11-000-700-1-649005
99% Salary/benefits - $478,987
2% to supplies/equipment - $5000
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$483,987
12-277-700-1-649005
100% (Part-Time bi-ligual position) - Salary & Benefits
100% (Seasonal 195's/except for back-fill) - Salary & Benefits
10% (Full-Time bi-lingual position) - Salary & Benefits
$77,388
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$ 561,375
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | SSSP, Student Services, Support Center | Personnel | 11-000-700-1-649005 | 52390 | $5,000.00 | $5,000.00 |
| Seasonal Worker Budget for Vacancies, Registration and Orientation periods | The Support Center with 2 FT and 5 PT staff answer up to 600 calls a day during peak periods. Support Center training costs are expensive and with our scope requiring operators to know so much about the college and Student Services it takes a minimum of 3 weeks of training. The budget here reflects 2 additional staff during our 5 key orientation/registration peak periods for 40 hours per week and training costs. |
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| 2 | SSSP, Student Services, Support Center | Operating Expenses | 11-000-700-1-649005 | 56411 | $5,000.00 | $5,000.00 |
| Budget for Headsets, equipment and basic supplies | Operators often go through a headset each year with the volume of calls we receive. Additionally, paper, envelopes, printer cartridges, business cards, binders and other supplies are needed for outreach, training and day to day operations. |
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| 3 | SSSP, Student Services, Support Center | Equipment | 11-000-700-1-649005 | 55610 | $35,000.00 | $3,500.00 |
| Call Monitoring System | Our calls and scope have double or tripled and our staff level has stayed the same. We need a way to measure our volume to be able to set reasonable call volume limits for staff and be able to justify additional staff to meet any increase in volume or scope. Without a monitoring system or guidelines in this area, we are not planning effectively for a sustainable future. This was a recommendation from the Program Review Validation Team. |
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