GAcollege411 update [Nov. 2008]

NOVEMBER 2008

GACOuLLpEdGaEte411

PROVIDING GAcollege411 STATISTICS, SIGNIFICANT RECENT DEVELOPMENTS, AND UPCOMING EVENTS.

Usability Study Findings
During the month of October we conducted a usability study on GAcollege411 at Southern Polytechnic State University. We had 6 high school junior and seniors who had never visited the site to provide us feedback on the site and to work through scenarios that they were given. We will be working on the findings from the study to help improve the site. Listed below are the top-level findings.
Positive Ratings of GAcollege411.com
All participants reported they would return to the site at a minimum
of 3 or 4 times.
All participants rated their overall experience on the site as positive. All participants found the information on GAcollege411 helpful for a
student planning to attend college.
All participants were impressed with the depth and quality of information.

Difficulties with the GAcollege411.com site
Participants' mental models of what the site might contain did not
match actual content.
The site's tools (wizard, search) did not meet participants'
information-seeking strategies.
Terminology specific to paying for and applying to college was
not clearly understood.
Scrolling long pages or reading text-heavy pages did not appeal
to the participants.
Perceived duplication of data entry for creating an account irritated participants.

Georgia Apply to College Week
Georgia Apply to College Week is November 11 13th. We are looking forward to an exciting week with students completing Admissions Applications via GAcollege411.org.

GACOLLEGE411
update

NOVEMBER 2008

page 2

Website Statistics through October 31,2008

Total Site Visits Since Inception: 9,002,843

4,000,000 3,500,000 3,000,000 2,500,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000
500,000 0

231,035 FY2005

1,141,604 FY2006

2,876,571

3,528,389

1,225,244

FY2007

FY2008

FY2009

Applications Submitted through

18,000

GAcollege411

16,000

14,000 12,000

USG =22,621

10,000 8,000

TCS = 8,211

6,000 4,000

GFIC = 981

2,000

0 Jul-08

Aug-08

Sep-08

Oct-08

Average number of Visits Average Visit Length

Average Site Visits Per Day by Fiscal Year

12,000 10,000
8,000

0:10:28

0:10:49

0:10:41

0:11:13 0:11:31 0:10:48

0:10:05

Average No. Visits Per Day

6,000

4,000 2,000
0

0:07:50 3,128
633

7,881

9,643

9,962

FY2005

FY2006

FY2007 FY2008 Fiscal Year

FY2009

0:09:22 0:08:38 0:07:55 0:07:12

Average Visit Length

1,000,000 Accounts My411 Created
On October 27th we reached a milestone with GAcollege411 as our 1 millionth account was created. Thank you for helping to spread the news of GAcollege411. Click here for official press release.
UPCOMING EVENTS
December 2, 2008 COMPLIANCE 101 December 2, 2008 HOPE Scholarship for Private Colleges December 6, 2008
SAT Test Date December 13, 2008
ACT Examination December 26, 2008 Registration deadline for January 24th SAT tests
January 16, 2008 Hands on Transcript Exchange Process Training
Januray 17, 2008 Hands on Transcript Exchange Process Training
Click here for Calendar of Events or to register.
RELATED LINKS
>> Board of Regents >> Technical College System of Georgia >> Mapping Your Future >> Georgia Department of Education >> Georgia Foundation for Independent Colleges

Thanks for everything you do to help Georgia residents realize their higher education dreams.

Georgia Student Finance Commission 2082 East Exchange Place - Tucker, Georiga 30084
Metro: 770-724-9000 Toll-Free 800-505-GSFC www.GAcollege411.org www.gsfc.org