VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., March 23, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- A high tech lifeline has been developed to aid American colleges and universities drowning in an unprecedented flood of applications.
Capture(tm), an electronic tool that drastically and efficiently simplifies the processing of the thousands of applications pouring into U.S. universities, has been developed by Admin.701 in conjunction with The University of Louisiana Lafayette. Admin.701 has offices in Virginia, Louisiana and Washington, DC.
In 1983 only 10 percent of undergrads at four-year schools had applied to six or more colleges, according to U.S. News & World Report. In 2003 that number jumped almost 25 percent. Coupled with a projected six-fold increase in the number of 17 years olds in the U.S. over the next 10 years, there is no end in sight. Mountains of paperwork have clogged the system while technological advances in the admissions process have been almost nonexistent -- with 99 percent of all of them being totally paper based as recently as 1999.
"The admission process is like shucking oysters," says Admin.701 CEO Rory Fitzpatrick. "Despite all of today's sophisticated technologies there have never been efficient electronic or mechanical methods to cost effectively get the job done and ensure that a pearl isn't overlooked. That is, until now."
While oyster shuckers are still searching for solutions, veteran university admissions officer and Admin.701 President Michael O'Connor, developed Capture, a service that streamlines the complex admissions process, while at the same time cherry picking prospects and applicants with the greatest potential.
Capture collects, processes, manages, manipulates, tracks, stores and secures every aspect of the application process from the time a student is a prospect or applicant to graduation and beyond. It combines a variety of data and document workflow processes with managed hosting, permanent record storage and cyber security --- techniques never before compressed into a single admissions process technology.
Using a variety of Capture components, that can be stand-alone or add-ons, institutions are able to customize streamlined systems that not only reduce the application process, but also increase their institution's revenues. "The efficiencies provided by Capture end up on the bottom line," says Fitzpatrick. "The institution's return on investment is measured two ways: Financially and through more efficient operations."
Capture's electronic tools transform paper-based information or images into a compact, efficient, cost-effective electronic system. This includes transcript, grade point average (GPA) and SAT calculations, integrating essays, credit evaluation, on-line payments, among a variety of other key elements. One university using Capture reduced its processing time per applicant from 1-20 weeks to 24-48 hours depending on the complexity of the application. In addition 90 percent of its admissions workforce was freed up and re-allocated to customer services and other key functions.
"There are two major beneficiaries of Capture," explains Fitzpatrick, "the institution and the student."
It enables institutions to manage every aspect of a student's enrollment life cycle from prospect or applicant to student to graduate and beyond while adding to the bottom line through increased yields and higher enrollments.
Capture benefits the students because it shortens the time from applying to hearing if they were accepted or rejected. And if they are transferring they no longer have to walk documents such as transcripts, etc. through the process.
Security is also a key feature of Capture. The company uses the latest encryption technology to ensure the security of its systems and files. Last fall a university using Capture was attacked by a hacker, who essentially shut down almost all the school's systems with the exception of Capture. "We take cyber security very seriously," Fitzpatrick says.
Other companies provide pieces of enrollment systems such as imaging or records retention, among others, but Capture is the first system to successfully combine all elements involved in the admissions process.
Details about Capture and Admin.701 can be found at www.Admin701.com