Q: My counterpart and I are looking for clarification on the LERN Ideal programming percentages found on page 17 of the CPP Reading: Program Development binder. We understand the formula is as follows:

20% NEW –We count course as NEW once in the first semester the course is first offered OR should we be counting courses as NEW every time they are offered in the first year?

30% Seasonal—We count courses that were new in the last semester as seasonal even if we change the location or time OR should we be counting all courses that were new in the last year as seasonal?

50% CORE—Courses that roll over with no change from semester to semester. If we change a location or time we count them as seasonal.

We are having trouble getting to 20% new. To clarify, we only advertise courses as NEW in the first semester they are first offered. If they are offered in the following semester they are considered seasonal and not marked as NEW in our course schedule.

Are we following the guidelines as intended?

A: Thanks for your question. I will try to clear it up but feel free to ask any other questions.

We consider a class new either the first time it's run or if it's repackaged. For instance if the title has been changed, or any other major parameter of the class. We do not count a class as new every time it has run for the year. You don't want someone seeing a class listed as new in the fall, then listed as new again in the spring. If a new class has multiple session in the first brochure or term, I would consider all of those sessions new, but it is rare to have new class with multiple sessions.

The 20% new is a goal to strive for and can defiantly be difficult. Most LERN members probably don't meet this goal and I feel like it is even harder if you are offering professional development programs since the production cost and time of a new class is much higher then a short term enrichment class. The important thing is to set a goal. If your goal is 10% and you are easily reaching it, move it up to 15% and aim for that. I feel like it is just really important to keep track of your historical numbers and see how you are doing in comparison.

For seasonal classes what we mean are classes that are only appropriate for a certain time of year. An obvious example is a thanksgiving cooking class that is really popular in the fall, still not making much sense in the spring. But this can be true in professional development where for instance you have a refresher course for an exam that is taken at certain time of the year and you want to offer the refresher course right before it. So basically the 30% seasonal means classes that are popular and do well, but are not appropriate to offer in every brochure or every term.

The 50% core classes are those that always run and make sense to always offer. These classes rarely cancel and typically bring in a good amount of revenue.

So overall, 20% new is a goal and I would say that typically professional development classes and programs are lower than that. Though it is always important to have new classes and programs to both stay on top of new trends and opportunities, but also to serve your best customers and make sure they don't run out of things they want to take and keep coming back!