{"id":8448,"date":"2018-06-11T13:59:17","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T18:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kbicblog.com\/blog\/higher-education\/?p=8448"},"modified":"2018-06-11T13:59:17","modified_gmt":"2018-06-11T18:59:17","slug":"5-keys-boosting-student-retention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/higher-education\/5-keys-boosting-student-retention\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Keys to Boosting Student Retention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8449 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/kbicblog.com\/blog\/higher-education\/files\/2018\/06\/pexels-photo-356065-300x214.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"327\" height=\"233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/higher-education\/files\/2018\/06\/pexels-photo-356065-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/higher-education\/files\/2018\/06\/pexels-photo-356065-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/higher-education\/files\/2018\/06\/pexels-photo-356065-700x500.jpg 700w, https:\/\/kbicblog.com\/higher-education\/files\/2018\/06\/pexels-photo-356065.jpg 910w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 327px) 100vw, 327px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Southern Utah University, faced with retention problems even more severe than than the ones now pressuring many colleges, improved its retention rate by about 10% with a \u201cfirst year experience\u201d that increased financial and academic support, identified struggling students and overhauled orientation and the first-year seminar,&nbsp;according to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chronicle.com\/article\/A-Third-of-Your-Freshmen\/243560?cid=wsinglestory_hp_1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chronicle of Higher Education<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Institutions nationwide, facing a 61% overall retention rate and a 55% rate for black students, are threatened by tight budgets, shrinking enrollment income and the prospect of aid formula changes that might cut even more support if students leave, the Chronicle reported.&nbsp;Due to the climate, about 60%&nbsp;of public four-year colleges and half of private colleges have set new retention goals.<\/p>\n<p>Universities are focusing their efforts in five key areas: improving freshman orientation and first-year seminars in new creative ways; building a sense of belonging on campus, particularly among minority students who are less likely to feel connected; redesigning first-year high-enrollment, lecture-heavy \u201cweed out\u201d courses to provide more support and different content delivery methods; providing supplemental instruction including study sessions run by higher-level students;&nbsp;and using new technology and staff structures to spot struggling or unhappy students earlier.<\/p>\n<p>One vice president for academic advising at Kennesaw State University&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chronicle.com\/article\/Breaking-Down-Barriers-to\/241814\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">polled students<\/a>&nbsp;who weren\u2019t returning, and one third responded with concerns about registration restrictions for parking tickets, not enough courses they need and glitches about majors and prerequisites \u2014 problems that the university could often easily spot and fix with more personal interaction. Gallup research has found that colleges should have six \u201cstrengths-based touch points\u201d for students built into their systems.<\/p>\n<p>Georgia State University, faced with a diverse and less affluent student body and shrinking state support, nonetheless,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/education\/archive\/2013\/09\/georgia-state-improved-its-graduation-rate-by-22-points-in-10-years\/279909\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">raised its retention rate by 22%<\/a>&nbsp;primarily by offering struggling students supports that include peer monitoring and identification of problem areas through data analysis. Other&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chronicle.com\/article\/How-3-Colleges-Improved\/240860\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">colleges<\/a>&nbsp;have used approaches that touch all students, including more one-on-one contact with faculty members offering longer office hours, learning communities and recognition of any staff member who makes students feel welcomed.<\/p>\n<p>Use of data is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/edtechmagazine.com\/higher\/article\/2017\/08\/colleges-embrace-data-analytics-improve-student-retention\">increasingly popular<\/a>&nbsp;to improve retention, including at Temple University, which offers students a more sophisticated \u201croadmap\u201d report card with their strengths and challenges, and the University of Nevada, where one&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.unlv.edu\/news\/article\/data-driven-student-success\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">campus regularly uses data<\/a>&nbsp;to spot struggling students.<\/p>\n<p>A University of Massachusetts&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.umass.edu\/schoolcounseling\/uploads\/TheChicagoReport.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study<\/a>&nbsp;showed that high school counselors, who have case loads that can reach as high as 1,000 learners in the neediest high-poverty schools, often aren\u2019t able to help students carefully select a college or prepare for the experience, which other&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mitpressjournals.org\/doi\/abs\/10.1162\/edfp_a_00204?journalCode=edfp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">research<\/a>&nbsp;shows contributes to low-retention rates. The report suggested more collaboration between higher education and high school counselors.<\/p>\n<p>Other&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.doug-webber.com\/EER_2012.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">research<\/a>&nbsp;shows that more spending on student services improves the chances students with low SAT and ACT scores will stay in college, while spending on instruction is key for students with higher scores majoring in STEM programs.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/views\/2017\/05\/10\/determining-which-retention-and-graduation-strategies-are-truly-effective-essay\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Experts<\/a>&nbsp;also say having more part-time and adjunct professors leads to lower graduation rates.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, retention is now seen as a critical reason for the lack of minority teachers.&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cpre.org\/recruitment-retention-and-minority-teacher-shortage\">Research<\/a>&nbsp;shows while recruitment campaigns have doubled minority enrollment in teacher preparation programs, students of color are 24%&nbsp;more likely to leave the programs than the many others who do. Colleges are also examining retention rates of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1002\/j.2168-9830.1997.tb00259.x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">engineering students<\/a>, although a recent&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/aeir.asee.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/2017-Engineering-by-the-Numbers-3.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">study<\/a>&nbsp;shows levels for those students have generally risen.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.educationdive.com\/news\/5-keys-to-boosting-student-retention\/525289\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Southern Utah University, faced with retention problems even more severe than than the ones now pressuring many colleges, improved its retention rate by about 10% with a \u201cfirst year experience\u201d that increased financial and academic support, identified struggling students and overhauled orientation and the first-year seminar,&nbsp;according to the&nbsp;Chronicle of Higher &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":8449,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","column","threecol","has-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>5 Keys to Boosting Student Retention<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Southern Utah University, faced with retention problems even more severe than the ones pressuring many colleges, improved its retention rate by about 10%\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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