Welcome: Why We Are Here

Why the Increased Emphasis on Retention

1. Financial and legislative pressures on colleges and universities

2. Global economy and automation: Heighten the need for skilled versus semi- and unskilled labor

3. Death of a dream: Failure to graduate often leads to reductions in students’ income and quality of life

What Do You Need To Do To Reduce Attrition?

1. Identify at-risk students within first 6 to 8 weeks of college

2. Determine why a student is at-risk

3. Craft a powerful message that addresses that student’s issues

4. Quickly alter the direction of that student’s life

Don’t Go Mountain Climbing If You Are Afraid of Heights

OrWhy You Can’t Reduce Attrition While

Singing The Blues

1. Optimism

2. Count Your Victories Not Your Defeats

How Well Do We Predict Retention?

Academic, Non-Academic and SES variables explain 17% of the variability of college retention across students.

Temporal Availability of Variables

1. Before the first day of class: HSGPA, ACT, SES, Freshman Orientation Survey, Institutional Selectivity, Financial Support.

2. After six or eight weeks of college: Academic-related skills, Academic self-confidence, Academic goals, Institutional Commitment, Social Support, Social Involvement, Achievement Motivation, General Self-Concept

3. After the first semester: First semester GPA

Beck’s List of Invariably Violated Principles

1. The earlier the diagnosis the better the prognosis2. More information generally enhances the prediction

of at-risk students3. The more time you have to gather information the

more useful information you can acquire

A Tale Of Six Schools: Following The Literature

1. We believed that retention was a critical issue.2. We believed that with the right program attrition

could be reduced.3. We felt inundated with information. Prioritization

was a serious problem.4. We believed our current retention efforts could be

improved.5. We believed that the specific concerns of our

students and institutions and were not being adequately addressed.

A Tale Of Six Schools: Following The Literature

Angelo State University6,200 StudentsLarge Hispanic Population Comprehensive

Appalachian State University15,117 StudentsPrimarily Caucasian Comprehensive

A Tale Of Six Schools : Following The Literature

Greenville Technical College14,338 StudentsDiverse Community College

Troy University28,255 StudentsLarge African-American PopulationComprehensive

A Tale Of Six Schools : Following The Literature

Tusculum College

2,100 Students

Small, Private Undergraduate Institution

USC Upstate

4,600 Undergraduates

Working With Individual Students: What Counselors, Advisors and Faculty Need To Know

1. Who in their caseloads is most at-risk?2. What factor(s) are causing a particular individual to

leave the institution?

Working With Groups of Students: What Policy-Makers and Instructors Of

Persistence-Oriented Courses Need To Know

1. What factor(s) distinguish students at their schools who will persist and will not persist in their educations?

2. Are our retention programs effective?

That‘s All Folks