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The purpose of this study was to determine if there were any significant differences in customers’ opinions of WIN Job Center One-Stop Career Centers operated by community colleges compared to customers’ opinions of Job Center One Stop Career Centers operated by Mississippi Department of Employment Security. Specifically, this study was concerned with the following variables: facilities, staff professionalism, staff services, self-services, and an overall service rating. A survey design was employed in this investigation to collect and analyze the data. A total of 116 WIN Job Center customers participated in this empirical study. An instrument entitled “Customer Satisfaction Survey” was used to gather the data. The instrument was adapted from an existing survey used by the North Carolina Employment Security Commission. The instrument was tested for internal consistency and the Cronbach alpha coefficient was .86. The data were tested for significance through the application of the One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), a 2 X 2 Analysis of Variance, and a 2 X 4 Analysis of Variance with the Studentized Range Test. Among the conclusions of this study were the following: it appeared that customers who utilized the Mississippi Department of Employment Security were more satisfied with the self-service resources than those who utilized the community college WIN Job Centers. Another notable significance was shown when including the variable of the times that the customer had utilized the WIN Job Centers. The data revealed that those customers who were using the WIN Centers for the first time were more satisfied with the overall services of community college centers; however, customers who were using the job center for 2-5 times were more satisfied with overall services from the Mississippi Department of Employment Security job centers. Finally, the data also displayed that the customers who had a higher level of education (.e. 2 or more years of college) were more satisfied with the WIN Job Centers overall than those with a high school diploma or less.

Community colleges across the nation have struggled with retention issues for decades. Questions of why students drop out and what factors influence the decision to remain or leave college prior to completion persist. Research has uncovered some of the influences on student persistence in higher education; however, community colleges, and to an even lesser degree, vocational programs, have received little attention. This case study examined the influences on student retention in a rural community college vocational education program which has a record of high retention and persistence to graduation rates. The qualitative research methodology employed examined the perceptions of seven current program students, nine program graduates, the sole program faculty member, and nine program advisory committee members. The results of the study yielded the following themes as factors which influence retention in this particular setting: program design, faculty, cohort, social aspects, the instructional environment, institutional support/programs, industry-sponsored events, and industry contributions. The findings suggest that community college student retention in vocational settings is a multi-dimensional phenomenon affected by a host of factors which collectively influence a student’s ability to persist to graduation. Future research regarding this topic may be able to utilize the results of this study to further advance the knowledge of student retention strategies in community college vocational settings. / text