More Mission Accomplished

Even though many campus stores are housed under auxiliary services, they are still a vital part of the institution. There are many ways for the store to support the institution’s mission and values.

At CAMEX24 in Savannah, GA, audience members shared some of their success stories during the session Aligning with the University’s Mission and Advocating for the Campus Store (see the related article in the Nov. 15 issue of CM):

An Oregon store manager includes a statement in email signatures noting that the cost of course materials represents less than 1% of the total cost of attendance.

Another store provides information about cost savings on course materials to parents during freshman orientation.

A community college store partnered with the institutional research office to examine data on student grade point averages and retention rates for the previous two years to determine the positive impact of moving to an inclusive access program. The store planned to drill down into demographic data as well, such as gender and age.

A store at a small, private institution has worked closely with admissions to ensure prospective students and their parents have opportunities to stop by the store during visiting days. The store is exploring ways to leverage relationships with other administrative offices.

As part of the institution’s efforts to track sustainability progress, an Arizona store calculated how much paper was saved due to the switch to an inclusive access program.

To help introduce prospective students to the store, a Tennessee store provided tour managers with free tee shirts. Now campus tours conclude with a stop at the campus store (which has also boosted sales).

At one institution, students in the School of Business and Marketing are required to undertake an internship in order to graduate. The campus store partnered with the school to create marketing internships. The interns, which are selected by faculty, work on creating marketing campaigns and materials for the store.

A Texas store got involved with a local foundation’s scholarship fundraising events. One attendee was so impressed that he donated $1 million to the program.

One store’s school launched an extensive project to improve retention. The institution made an effort to be attuned to students who may be struggling to meet expenses and therefore at risk of dropping out. The store trained cashiers to be aware when students purchased course materials late in the term and talk with them to determine if the reason was financial so that they could be steered to available assistance.