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