Institutions of higher education's student services centers have followed a similar siloed process for many decades. Students are required to take many steps and endure waiting in many lines to receive student related services such as admission, registration, advisement, financial aid, etc. In an attempt to recruit and retain more students, in recent years universities and community colleges have developed processes in varying degrees to reduce the number of step students are required to take to obtain services and to create centers of synergy where students can access many services. The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the process involved in developing, implementing, and evaluating a one-stop student services center at Southwest Community College (pseudonym). The institutional data in Chapter 4 of this study is extracted from the institutional data from the actual community college where this project was implemented.

This study was designed based on naturalistic inquiry methodology and practice. The development of the one-stop Enrollment and Student Services Center was based on research of best practices; site visits to several colleges and universities that had developed one-stop service centers; and input from students, faculty, staff, and administrators of the SCC. The primary method of data collection was in-depth, open-ended interviews of the staff and administrators. Additional data was collected through student surveys, review of institutional data, interviews, field notes, observations conducted during meetings, and formal notes take by the researcher. Qualitative methods were used to analyze and report the data.

The study documented and analyzed the process by which a one-stop student services center was developed. It further provides insight about the possible process to glean information from previous efforts in developing similar operations to improve the design of a new service center. The study determined that, when provided, students employ self-service student services, locating services in easily accessible locations increased the use of services, and one-stop centers also improved recruitment and retention of both credit and non-credit/continuing education students.