2. My Higher Education
Work History
1986-1989 Dorm Residence Hall Director, EKU
1993-1995 Graduate Assistant, UNCGreensboro
1995-1997 Academic Advisor, UNCGreensboro
1997-2002 Registrar’s Office, UNCGreensboro
2002-2003 Admissions, UNCGreensboro
2003-2011 Registrar, Guilford Technical CC
2011-Present Registrar, DeVry University, Addison, IL
3. Why the need for this
presentation?
Easier and cheaper to retain students than to recruit
new students
Persistence: semester to semester
Retention: year to year
Retention makes a difference in
students’ lives!
4. Who Is Responsible For
Retention?
Student – hey, you should not be here if you are not
ready to go to class and do the assignments
Faculty – it is your responsibility to nurture students so
that students are taught/engaged and not just lectured
at
Staff – it is your responsibility to make persistence/
retention programs work
Administrators – it is your responsibility to find funding
and create programs which enable student success.
5. Students Are Responsible for
Their Own Retention
Sink or Swim
Weed out classes (size, difficulty)
Student’s responsibility
Is this correct? Yes but Not Entirely
Yes – students need to be accountable for their education and be
motivated and ready to make the commitment
Not entirely – the educational institution should take some
responsibility for aiding student success (processes, study skills,
motivation, campus activity engagement, faculty engagement, etc.)
NOTE – data show that students are most open to institutional
intervention in the first year (Tinto, Completing College, 2012).
6. Faculty Are Responsible For Student
Retention
What are the credentials required to teach at your institution?
What is required for promotion and tenure? Is quality of teaching,
advising and/or student retention in the mix?
What is your institution doing to aid instruction on campus? Is there a
Faculty Teaching and Learning Center or some similar vehicle?
Faculty are not just in front of a class to “Profess”
Faculty should always be “On Stage” and engaging
Is this correct? Yes but Not Entirely
Yes – faculty are hired to teach as at least a part of their contract.
Teaching means pedagogically conveying information to students.
Not entirely – faculty are hired to teach but that is just a small portion of
their commitment to the educational institution (research, funding,
college service); division of duties depends on the college/university.
7. Staff Are Responsible For
Student Retention
An office is responsible for student retention
Academic Advising
Office of Enrollment Management
Does your school have an office with this responsibility? What are the
titles?
Is this correct? Yes but Not Entirely
Yes – it is good to see schools place an emphasis on retaining students, to
place dollars behind those efforts, and create programs that target student
retention.
Not entirely – student retention is not the responsibility of one office.
Enrollment management should be a culture that permeates throughout the
college. Every student encounter is a moment of truth – or to paraphrase
Disney: every encounter is an opportunity to WOW the student.
8. Administrators Are Responsible
For Student Retention
Create policies and procedures that are “retention-friendly”
What is an example of a retention-friendly student policy or procedure?
One example from Guilford Technical Community College
Are there portions of your academic policy that positively reflect an
emphasis on student persistence and success?
Is this correct? Yes but Not Entirely
Yes – it is good for institutions to recognize that academic success is an issue
that can be affected by student-friendly policies and procedures
Not entirely – these policies/procedures need to be consistently
implemented which requires college-wide buy-in; the best retention
policies/procedures are little without complete implementation.
9. A Pattern?
All groups affiliated with students need to be involved
in retention:
Students
Faculty
Staff
Administrators
10. Academic Reasons Students Stop (drop-out,
stop-out, transfer, reverse transfer, etc.)
Poor study habits
Poor academic or non-academic preparation
New degree program not offered at institution
Do not ask for help
Poor professor communication
Want to take General Education courses elsewhere
Failed elsewhere and cannot (does not) change prior habits
Change: Remember The Titans:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=remember+the+titans+change&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=06892784B66
FEF312EE406892784B66FEF312EE4
Academic Dismissal
Completed certificate, diploma, associate’s, bachelor’s, graduate degree
Others?
11. Financial Reasons Students Stop
Personal finances
Not enough financial aid (grants, loans, etc.)
Unemployment/Student needs a job
New job
Two jobs
Campus housing too expensive so moving back home
Students might forget that wealth increases two ways:
Increased income
Decreased expenses
Aggregate Loan Limits
Use refund checks to live on
Don’t want to take out loans with interest
Balance prevents registration
Others?
12. Social Reasons Students Stop
Poor time management
Lack of motivation
Homesick – want to live closer to home
Transportation – and no OnLine option
Work is a higher priority than education
Lack of family support
Don’t feel like they fit in
NOBODY CARES
Not enough clubs/activities
Want a residence hall if attending a commuter school
Campus too big or too small
Life
Move
Birth in the family
Death in the family
Medical for self or family
Vacation
Others?
13. Retention Ideas
Professors calling students that are absent (John Roueche, retired professor at the
University of Texas at Austin’s CC Leadership Program, speaks about teachers using
the phone) – or other means of communication for students that do not attend
(texting, e-mails, others?)
Faculty Alerts
Students calling students
Deans calling students
Academic advisors calling students
Finding students who miss the first class; first two weeks of attendance are critical
First semester GPAs
CC COMMON COURSE NUMBERING SYSTEM – IL adopting a common course numbering
system might aid students transferring and decrease student loss of credit;
programs like the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI) already aid those students in
transition (The Transfer Handbook)
14. Some Ideas That Require
Predictive Analytics
Can we predict in advance those students that are
more at risk and therefore target that population?
A predictive first semester GPA?
Big Data is already being collected by schools – but
the challenge is sorting and using the data
High school GPA
Age
Gender
Ethnicity
High School
Previous college or other educational
institution
Program
First Year
Where are the gaps in retention? (Burch, 2015)
15. Academic Support
The Library makes a class or small group presentation on library
services, Ask A Librarian, using select resources and citing your sources
Academic Support Center (aka Tutor Center, etc.) visits to showcase
tutor and paper review services. These are FREE services on most
campuses
Faculty tutors
Peer tutors
Writing Center (proofreading services)
Supplemental Instruction
First Year Program/class
Pro-active (intrusive) academic and career advising
Discussion of school’s academic integrity policy
Others?
16. Financial and Social Support
A Personal Finance class required for all programs
Student job board (virtual)
Lunch and Learns (time mgt., study skills, etc.)
STUDENT CARE permeates campus
Public transportation student discount
Day care
New student clubs/organizations
Others?
17. A Possible First Year
Persistence/Retention Plan
New Student Orientation (One hour to one day to one
semester; faculty/peer engagement)
Classroom Experience (Professional development for
teaching; faculty-to-faculty mentoring)
Advising (pro-active)
FYE class (time management, study skills, Go to class,
complete all homework on time, etc.)
Supplemental Instruction (Student mentors; high-
impact/gateway classes)
Campus Engagement (Student activities, athletics, etc.)
Assess and Revise
19. Where Do We Go From Here?
What would it take at your institution to increase
persistence and retention?
Will it involve a cultural shift at your school?
Who needs to be involved?
Is there a cost? Where does funding come from?
If your institution increased retention by
5% from the First Year to the Second Year,
how many students would be affected?
20. One Final Thought
Help your students find their verse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_zsMwCOoEs
Dead Poets Society
21. References
Burch, B. (October, 2015) Using Student Data To Improve
Persistence. E-Source For College Transitions. National
Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in
Transition. The University of South Carolina.
Black, J. (2001) The Strategic Enrollment Management
Revolution. AACRAO. Washington, D.C.
Pascarella, E., & Terenzini, P. (1991) How College Affects
Students: Twenty years of research. Jossey-Bass. San
Francisco.
Pascarella, E., & Terenzini, P. (2005) How College Affects
Students (Volume 2): A third decade of research. John Wiley &
Sons, Inc. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco.
Tinto, V. (2012) Completing College. University of Chicago
Press: Chicago.
The Transfer Handbook (2015) AACRAO: Washington, D.C.
