Can retention efforts be successful?

CAD 770 Individual ProjectStudent # 0183

Dr. Varner

Cultural and Financial Forces Affect Students

Encourage students to develop skills, independence, and competence

  Difficult to Ascertain

Institutions with poor retention do not publicize data

Factors that impact Retention

First Year Experience Courses Emerge

Validation

Make Students Feel That Their Education is Worthwhile and

Valuable

Departmental e-newsletters, campus Web sites, letters, personal

interaction with students

Mentoring

Some students need conversation beyond coursework advising

Offer constructive suggestions and encouragement

Academic advisors should really get involved with their students

by listening and setting goals and expectations and offer

encouraging words

Recognition and Celebration

Publicly recognize student achievements with tweets,

departmental newsletters, emails, local media coverage

Key Elements of Retention Efforts

Give Students A Voice

Invite them to become ambassadors for their school

Have students speak to new or prospective students and share

with them their struggles and successes

Practicality Allow students to work on assignments relevant to today’s world

A Culture of Success

Create a positive environment

Sponsor lectures with local community business leaders

Host campus mixers

Publicly recognize school’s accomplishments

Key Elements of Retention Efforts (continued)

Provide Resources

Provide web links to mental health support groups on and off

campus,

counseling centers, health clinics, hotlines; such as ULifeline,

Freedom From Fear

Offer job advice

Provide forums for students and faculty to contribute success

stories

Use electronic student newsletters

Twitter

Key Elements of Retention Efforts (continued)

Support

Make students feel that everyone is involved in their successful

completion of an education

For example: financial aid offices – create more payment options

Positivity

All personnel on campus including physical plant personnel,

housekeeping, secretaries communicate with students by speaking and

smiling when meeting them

Cardona, A (2009, April 24). Eight ways to retain students in a tough economy. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Eight-Ways-to-Retain-Studen/5437/

Key Elements of Retention Efforts (continued)

Conducted by The College Board Study on Student Retention, Project on Academic Success at Indiana University at Bloomington, and the Center for Enrollment, Research, Policy, and Practice (University of California)

N=442 Respondents

Results Three-fourths had designated retention director More commuter colleges than residential ones had retention directors Sixty three percent had retention committee Two-thirds reported coordinator had authority to carry out some projects One-third reported coordinator had some budget authority to finance new initiatives Ninety percent reported more than half of first year students participated in orientation

 

Supiano, B. (2009, November 1). Colleges move to organize their retention efforts. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Colleges-Move-to-Organize-R/4899/

 

National Survey on Student Retention

Two things in common

Administrators and faculty are focused on making progress

Programs are geared toward helping students on an individual basis

Colleges With Successful Retention Efforts

Report by Southern Regional Education Board Fifteen public four year universities that enroll large numbers of

low income students improved their grad rates.

Efforts used by the participants in report Training for faculty to improve student advising First year experience programs Early alert programs help advisors identify students who might drop

out First Year Leader Program used by Murray State - upperclassmen

help freshmen adjust to campus life (anchoring program) Variety of other initiatives that work such as faculty and community

involvement   Fuller, A. (2010, April 14). Improving college completion in the South, one student at a time. The Chronicle of Higher

Education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Improving-College-Completio/65049/

Promoting a Culture of Student Success: How Colleges and Universities are Improving Degree Completion

Address the problem of student departure as early as possible

Concentrate efforts ◦ On admissions ◦ Early educational assessment ◦ Academic assistance ◦ Orientations ◦ Programs that focus on the student’s first year on campus

  Tinto, V. (1987, November). The Principles of Effective Retention. Paper

presented at the Fall Conference of the Maryland Personnel Association, Largo, MD.

Vincent Tinto’s Advice for Retaining Students  

Retention at Ole Miss w/ FYE course