Trimeka Benjamin, a self-described "straight shooter," takes the same approach when it comes to describing what she does.
"If you were to ask a college president [what we do], they would say we are the Olivia Pope of higher education," Trimeka said, referencing the main character on ABC's hit show "Scandal," in which Pope helps solve seemingly every problem that arises in the White House.
Benjamin is the founder of Swim Digital Group, named after clients kept calling and saying "we are drowning."
"Our job is to make sure they can swim — that they don't need us anymore," she said.
She is a consultant for namely community colleges and historically black colleges and universities, originally helping the institutions specifically when they noticed a drop in admissions. According to Benjamin, that is often due to technology.
"They have 17 pieces of technology and none are talking to each other," she said. "Nothing is triggered correctly."
Her solution: a software-agnostic approach which uses a multitude of customer relationship management systems, allowing schools a more streamlined approach to not only enrollment but also student services.
And as the novel coronavirus pandemic continues, schools have needed to pivot their services remotely. That's where Benjamin comes in.
"Higher education tends to go slow; they take a long time to adapt to innovation and technology [typically]," she said. "At this point, it's not only enrollment is on the line, but their jobs are on the line. Every person who would have been a naysayer is at the table saying, 'We understand why a CRM is important,' and 'We need a virtual graduation.'"
It was a quick turnaround for Swim Digital. The company launched an entire digital offering and a higher education podcast. The company has doubled its clients, up to 26 across 10 states, and also doubled its employees to 20 total. She has worked with local institutions including St. Petersburg College, Hillsborough Community College and Pasco-Hernando State College.
As coronavirus could make community college become more attractive, with lower costs and more skills-focused programs, Benjamin advises other institutions to focus on a few factors to ensure their own enrollment stays steady.
- Higher education institutions need to look at the bigger issue of why a student may not be responding to email or phone call inquiries. "Higher education as a whole has to ask, 'What is the barrier for that student?"
- Look into resources offered, such as laptop lending programs or free internet providers and then take advantage. "If you don't ask, you don't know," she said .
- Finally, ensuring someone is on campus to make the available resources available to students. "It's not just, 'Here's your laptop, internet, goodbye,' but having a buddy to help. That's what people care about: Do you have the resources to help?"
