1️⃣ Identify the Problems You Want AI to Solve
Look for the work that buries your team every term, like answering thousands of program inquiries one at a time.
How to Buy AI:
A Sourcing Playbook for Community Colleges
Your college serves thousands of students on every kind of path, with a team that's already stretched. AI can help, but only if you buy it right. This six-step playbook shows you how to define the problem, check readiness, and set a measurable target before you sign anything.
95% of AI Pilots Stall. Lean Teams Can't Afford to Be One.
Your school probably has an AI plan already. The harder part is buying a tool that works for an open-access campus with a stretched staff.
Every term brings thousands of inquiries. Student records sit across admissions, transfer credit, dual enrollment, workforce programs, and sometimes more than one campus. A tool that adds steps for your team won't last.
That's how so many pilots end. One MIT study found 95% of enterprise generative AI pilots stall before they deliver measurable results (MIT NANDA, 2025). Often the technology works fine. It just wasn’t set up for how your team actually works.
This playbook helps you pick AI that takes work off your team, with a clear baseline and target set before you sign.
Name the Job Before You Shop for AI
Is your team trying to:
✔ Respond to thousands of inquiries every term without losing the personal touch
✔ Pull a student's full story together from admissions, transfer, dual enrollment, and workforce records
✔ Pick up where you left off with students who stop out, transfer, or come back later
✔ Give every staff member the know-how your most experienced advisors carry
The playbook helps you match the right AI to each of these jobs before you talk to a single vendor.
What's Inside the Community College Playbook
Six steps written for open-access campuses with lean teams. Each one comes with community college examples you can put to work right away.
2️⃣ Assess AI Readiness and Pick a Starting Point
Check your data, connections, ownership, and staff buy-in. Then start with the emails and chat conversations already in your CRM.
3️⃣ Define Success for Your AI Solution
Set a baseline, a target, and a deadline, like cutting inquiry response time from nine hours to two during peak recruitment.
4️⃣ Find the Right AI Tools
No budget for a big overhaul? Start with AI inside Microsoft 365 and the systems your staff already use.
5️⃣ Design the Perfect Pilot Using Imperfect Conditions
Pilot with real students who move between dual enrollment, workforce programs, transfer, and coming back after time away.
6️⃣ Buy for Adoption, Not Optics
Track whether staff keep using the tool after the first few months, and ask the ones who stopped why.
A Closer Look at the Community College Playbook
Community college students rarely follow a straight line. They start in dual enrollment, take a workforce course, transfer, step away, and come back. Your staff has to keep up with all of it. This playbook starts there. It helps you find the work that slows your team down, check whether your data can support AI, and set a target you can measure within a single term. Then it covers how to test tools on real student records and how to keep staff using them after launch. You don't need a large technology overhaul to get started.
What Buying With a Plan Gets Your College
AI that gives a stretched team time back for the students who need it most.
✔ Quicker answers in peak season. Hit response-time goals even when inquiries spike.
✔ One view of every student. See dual enrollment, transfer, and workforce records in one place.
✔ More returning students. Reach students who stopped out before they drift further away.
✔ Progress you can show. Measure results in a term, not a multi-year rollout.
✔ Tools that last. Spot a drop in usage early and fix the cause.
How to Buy AI: A Sourcing Playbook for Community Colleges
A six-step sourcing playbook for community college leaders choosing AI their staff trust, their students value, and their teams actually use.