"Public institutions have become more aware of and concerned with retention, partially due to the financial implications of attrition and the fact that many states are not funding their public institutions at the same level that they have in the past."

Dr. Chrissy Coley

National ACademic ADvising Association is a great resource for more information about how advising can improve student retention.

The National Survey of Student Engagement is an annual survey whose results will provide an estimate of how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending college. Survey items on NSSE represent empirically confirmed good practices in undergraduate education.

Student Retention . org is a non-profit center for the study of student persistence in postsecondary education and offers an effective practice database along with workshops

The Policy Center on the First Year of College invites postsecondary institutions in a model for voluntary, comprehensive self-study and development and implementation of an intentional action plan designed to enhance the effectiveness of the first year.

What is Student Retention?

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Dr. Chrissy Coley

The New School of Higher Education Retention

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PEOPLE WITH IMPACT INTERVIEW - Dr. Chrissy Coley, vice president of retention services for EducationDynamics Enrollment and Retention Division, has spent over 15 years in the field of higher education and student affairs. Specifically, Dr. Coley has observed and participated in the evolution student retention and engagement initiatives, and she shares her insights in the following interview.

Q: After over 15 years in higher education student affairs, how have retention and student success initiatives evolved?
Dr. Chrissy Coley: I feel as though campuses are much more aware of retention. My background has been predominantly with private institutions, which are very tuition driven. Therefore, they have historically been more concerned with retention than public institutions because they realize it costs much more money to recruit a new student than to keep an enrolled student. Institutions are also coming to understand that retaining students will help to alleviate pressure during the recruitment period. More recently, however, public institutions have become more aware of and concerned with retention, partially due to the financial implications of attrition and the fact that many states are not funding their public institutions at the same level that they have in the past.

Beyond that, annual U.S. News and World Report rankings have definitely shaped the focus of higher education as schools are beginning to look at not only prestige rankings, but also those that are important to the public—if the public will be judging institutions on certain factors, they will need to be able to measure up to expectations. One of the most important ratings is graduation rates, particularly because it speaks to how well institutions are educating their students and promoting their success, thus contributing to persistence to degree completion.

We are also noticing yet another philosophical shift in regards to retention. Up through the 1960’s, institutions were seen as taking on more of a parental role, termed ‘in loco parentis,’ wherein the school took on the responsibility to directly guide students in their academic and moral decisions. Examples of this approach included imposed curfews, class and chapel attendance, and various behavior regulations—overall, a more controlling environment. With the riots of the 1960’s came an evident shift in paradigm—students really wanted to be seen as adults and treated as such. In the early 1970’s, the FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) legislation was passed, which protected students’ rights to privacy. Parents could no longer call and ask to see their student’s grades, as grades and other educational documents were seen as the individual student’s private documents. It was also during this time that more and more institutions began to treat students more like adults free to make their own decisions, both good and bad. Along with this perspective, universities took the stance that poor student choices that resulted in attrition were the fault of the student and not their concern.

However, during the last 20 years we have witnessed another shift in educational philosophy and practice. First, there has been more recognition of university accountability—are institutions really living up to what they say they will do? The report of the Spellings Commission has promoted many institutions to focus on voluntary systems of accountability through assessing and reporting the achievement of stated learning outcomes. In the same vein, accreditation is also a huge issue, as the accrediting bodies are regularly evaluating whether institutions are meeting their goals, including those related to student retention. Universities want to put certain policies in place that demonstrate to these bodies that they are utilizing all resources effectively and are accountable to high standards. Additionally, university administrators realize that today’s parents are going to hold them legally responsible for the health, well-being, and success of their students. And they are also becoming more aware that they hold a moral imperative, as well as legal responsibility, to put into place initiatives that promote student safety, well-being, learning and success.

We now know that certain behaviors, like attending class on a regular basis and utilizing on-campus resources like orientation programs and academic support centers, help students to be more successful. Literature and research suggest that there are practices and policies that institutions can put in place that don’t necessarily compromise student privacy, but create more of an intentional intrusion to keep students from failing. Examples include mandatory orientation participation and class attendance policies, as well as monitoring of midterm/midyear grades and requiring students with marks below a certain GPA to participate in support programs. Institutions are realizing that they can require best educational practices, or those retention efforts that positively impact their students.

Q: How can a university implement these new web-based retention initiatives seamlessly?
Dr. Chrissy Coley: Institutions now realize that the web is the preferred medium of communication for this age demographic, and that, in higher education, many of the professors may not feel comfortable in utilizing current technologies in their teaching. In fact, most faculty do not possess the same level of tech-savvy as their students, but many campuses are implementing Centers for Teaching Excellence that train professors and staff members on how to use technology both inside and outside of the classroom to better educate, engage, and connect with students.

When campuses think about student communication through the web, they have to be intentional in the ways that they reach out to both prospective and current students. Programs must be easy to navigate, comprehensive, and continue to attract attention and engage students, as well as answer their questions or direct them to the proper resources to find answers they need to be academically and personally successful. It takes a joint effort between academic, student affairs, and technology departments to come together and identify goals and challenges in meeting goals in achieving student success, as well as develop an infrastructure and/or partnership to accommodate needs, capabilities and goals.

Many institutions are choosing to outsource that and partner with other companies that are specialists in the area, like EducationDynamics for example, to bring those services to the campus, as well as integrate programs within the classroom setting and the student services area. At EducationDynamics, we provide a wonderful suite of products designed to help students engage socially and academically with institutions, that also serve as a critical tool for campuses to improve engagement, student health and retention.

Q: Can you explain the freshman second semester retention trend?
Dr. Chrissy Coley: The second semester of freshman year can be really tough. Research suggests that student performance during this time is a reliable predictor of whether or not a student will graduate, which raises a red flag for campus retention departments. Students may underperform their first semester of college for any variety of reasons pertaining to adjusting to college life—more freedom, being away from parents, experimentation with drugs and alcohol, inadequate study and time management skills, or poor diets, combined with more responsibility, can result in failure for many students. Not only are students distressed, parents are worried also.

The modern Millennial student is accustomed to a higher level of parental involvement—typically, they are used to educational settings that are strictly monitored and performance-driven, wherein the world revolved around the student. Their parents and the other adults in their life sent them those messages, and while they are great and supportive, these messages are hard to adapt into a college setting. Helicopter parents, who have been so involved in their student’s life up until college, want to continue to be involved closely. They’ve invested a lot of money in college and want to see their child succeed, so poor first semester performance takes its toll on the parents as well as the students.

Students must learn how to navigate those systems in their new environment. Colleges and universities must find ways to connect with parents and educate them on how to best parent a college student and offer ways to support their students and encourage them while challenging them to stay on track and solve their problems on their own as they transition into adulthood. Many schools are putting programs into place that address subpar achievement in the first semester, realizing that the first semester of the first year of college is a good predictor of whether they will graduate or not. Required courses, academic coaching, or mandating any other variety of resources to really pull those students in and connect them with support to help plan and strategize for success is crucial. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of teaching students how to navigate the systems in their new environment.

Many campuses are also putting programs in place for parents, specifically orientations to educate parents on campus life and the available resources to support their son or daughter. At the University of South Carolina, we found that by educating parents on available resources, the parents can serve as an information resource for their students by telling them what is out there, and will likely encourage them to seek out resources. Communication with parents is key, and more and more campuses are taking advantage of web-based tools, like EducationDynamics’ Pics FYRe program, an online community for the parents of first-year students at the college. It is a tremendous way to engage with parents and keep them informed. Parents get anxious when they feel like they don’t have the right information, so if schools can keep parents in the loop and offer healthy ways to help their students, everyone—student, parent, and university retention efforts—can benefit.

Dr. Chrissy Coley, vice president of retention services for EducationDynamics

See an index of all the "People with Impact" Interviews

Additional sections of this journal address student recruiting and student retention. We have also placed all articles with a common theme of online education and distance education programs in a separate portal. New articles will be posted each Monday, please check back by bookmarking this site or placing a link to this Innovative Practices in Communicating with Students portal.