The National CCAA offers numerous benefits to each individual institution in addition to promoting activities that benefit Catholic colleges and universities nationwide.

Member benefits

The Official Catholic College & University Guidebook -- Since it was first published in 1986, this unique Guidebook has been helping students investigate their options among the nation's Catholic colleges and universities. The Guidebook includes useful information for students and parents as well as full-page, full-color features on each of the participating National CCAA member colleges. Fifty thousand copies of the Guidebook are distributed free to Catholic high schools and secondary schools across the country, as well as to some independent counselors and public school advisors. In addition, the Guidebook is offered for sale through the Association's web site.

www.catholiccollegesonline.org -- The National CCAA web site promotes the value of Catholic higher education and gains exposure for our individual members.

The site went live on March 15, 2001 and in its first full year attracted nearly 100,000 unique visitors and generated more than 32,000 "click-throughs" to individual member institutions' web sites.

Features on the site include a searchable database that allows students, parents and counselors to find Catholic colleges and universities that match their personal preferences in a number of categories ranging from academic programs offered to geographic location and from enrollment size to campus setting.

Each member institution controls the content on its web page through a password-protected administrative interface. Members who need their user identification and passwords can e-mail masek@nationalccaa.org and request that information.

There are two levels of membership in The National CCAA. The full membership includes a full page in the printed Guidebook and an impressive presence on the web site. Members enrolling at this level may create a web page that includes a color photo, a descriptive narrative section about the college, links to the college's web site and an e-mail link to the institution's admission office. These members also enjoy complete functionality in both the "basic" and "advanced" search features.

A "web site-only membership" has a less impressive web presence. For example, the web site-only member's web page does not include a photo or links to the institution's web site. For a more detailed description of the differences in membership, see our Membership Contract and Invoice.

Spanish version of Parents section of www.catholiccollegesonline.org -- Recognizing the importance of serving the Hispanic population and in particular the parents of Hispanic college-bound students, the Association launched a Spanish translation of the Parents section of the web site in August, 2002.

Promoting Catholic higher education -- The Association leadership continues to seek new ways to promote Catholic higher education to benefit its membership.

Past projects have included printing and distributing, for each of the past four years, a large map showing the locations of all Catholic colleges and universities in the United States. Last year a poster publicizing our web site was distributed to our primary constituent high schools.

Current projects under consideration include the development and distribution of two new posters promoting the value of Catholic higher education and additional collateral materials that would be targeted directly to the Catholic college-bound population.

Individual Guidebook page reprints -- If you are a Guidebook participant, you are eligible to order reprints of your page at very attractive rates. Each year 20 or so members take advantage of this opportunity. For more information, download the Reprint Order Form.

National CCAA listserv -- This listserv, hosted by Saint Michael's College in Vermont, serves as an another avenue for communication among our members. The listserv is open only to Catholic high school guidance counselors and admission officers from member colleges and universities. It serves as a place to pose questions about the transition from high school to college, to share recruitment ideas and vendor information and to discuss issues pertinent to Catholic education. To subscribe, send a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERVER.SMCVT.EDU. In the text of the message (not the subject line), type: SUBSCRIBE NCCAA. To post a message to the list just send an e-mail to NCCAA@LISTSERVER.SMCVT.EDU. Please contact Jacki Murphy at jmurphy@smcvt.edu.

Online news -- The National CCAA News Online is an informative source of Association news, news about member institutions, issues pertaining to Catholic higher education and marketing insights that may be of interest to members. If you would like to provide some news for inclusion on the site, email it to masek@nationalccaa.org. The Association will be the sole judge of the appropriateness of any submission.

Online surveys -- Through our web site, we have the capability to create simple online surveys that can have up to six multiple choice questions with each question having up to six possible answers. The Association has used this feature to survey our membership about staff salaries and other administrative issues. We have also had an on-going survey about the popularity of the CD-ROM as a marketing tool from the prospective student perspective. If a member has an issue he or she wishes to survey, contact the designated Regional Coordinator for details on how to get your online survey posted.

Catholic college enrollment data -- Through our regional representatives, we collect data and report on Catholic admission trends. Schools that provide trend data receive a report twice a year.

Networking opportunities -- The National CCAA provides professional networking opportunities at our annual dinner, held in conjunction with the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) annual meeting.