Survey Of Student Retention Policies In Higher Education

The Survey of Student Retention Policies in Higher Education presents data from a benchmarking study of the retention policies of 40 American colleges. Data is broken out for public and private colleges, by Carnegie class and enrollment level, to allow for easier benchmarking. This 100+ page study presents data on: spending on consulting services to aid in student retention, spending on conferences, reports and other information and analysis about retention; percentage of colleges that have a dean or other high level administrator for retention; retention rates for students; ways in which colleges track and present retention data; perceived impact of financial assistance on retention; perceived impact of severity in grading on retention; perceived impact of tutoring services on retention; perceived impact of psychological counseling serviceson retention; perceived impact of general economic conditions on retention; perceived impact of involvement in extra-curricular activities on retention; perceived impact of the quality of food services and residence halls on retention; use of interviews of transferees or drop outs from the college; use of interviews of graduates of the college; importance of exit interviews; percentage of colleges that maintain records on students that are engaged in few or no extracurricular activities; description of college info literacy policies; percentage of colleges that offer child care services to students; role of part time job finding services; perceived importance of career services division for retention; perceived importance of the academic advising services unit for retention; perceived importance of peer mentoring for retention; percentage of colleges that intervene at pre-determined thresholds of student difficulties such as number of classes missed or low grade point average; description of college efforts to reach out to help high risk students; College spending on tutoring services; Projected future spending on tutoring services; Perceived impact of tutoring services on retention; Source of tutors; Cost of Tutors; percentage of residence halls that have student advisory centers; percentage of colleges that have hired consultants to advise on the academic advising services; Annual Budget of the academic advising unit; number of full time equivalent positions allocated to the academic advising unit; description of rate of growth in the college's financial aid to students over the past two years; description of changes in tuition levels; perceived view of the need to increase financial aid or lower tuition in order to maintain or enhance enrollment; institutional attitudes towards the encouragement of instructor-student interaction outside of class; percentage of students that need special help in reading, writing or pronouncing English; percentage of colleges that offer ESL.

Drawing on studies funded by the Lumina Foundation, the nation's largest private foundation focused solely on increasing Americans' success in higher education, the authors revise current theories of college student departure, including Tinto's, making the important distinction between residential and commuter colleges and universities, and thereby taking into account the role of the external environment and the characteristics of social communities in student departure and retention. A unique feature of the authors' approach is that they also consider the role that the various characteristics of different states play in degree completion and first-year persistence. First-year college student retention and degree completion is a multi-layered, multi-dimensional problem, and the book's recommendations for state- and institutional-level policy and practice will help policy-makers and planners at all levels as well as anyone concerned with institutional retention rates—and helping students reach their maximum potential for success—understand the complexities of the issue and develop policies and initiatives to increase student persistence.

This book draws together international research to assess the quality of successful efforts to retain students. The editors and contributors unite diverse global research from countries who have led student retention and success projects at national, institutional, faculty or program level with positive outcomes. The book is underpinned by the philosophy that a more diverse student population requires higher education institutions to fundamentally change, in order to facilitate the success of all students. All of humanity, its economies and societies, are being pummelled by waves of pandemic-induced crises in tandem with globalisation and demographic shifts. Ultimately, this book acts as a clarion to higher education institutions to better support and retain their students, in order to create a more stable learning environment.

This report looks closely at the student retention efforts of 50 American colleges and universities including the University of Delaware, Auburn, Sarah Lawrence and Georgia State University, among many others. The 100+ page study gives detailed data on retention rates overall and for many specific categories of students such as distance learning students, graduate students, part time students, and other categories. The study presents highly detailed data on the retention effort including current and planned spending on consultants, information resources and conferences and retention staff. The study helps retention professionals to answer questions such as: what do peers consider to be the most important elements of a retention effort? How important is financial aid? Counseling? Tutoring? Student activities? Early identification efforts for troubled students? Data is broken out for size and type of college (community college, 4-year, MA/PHD and research university) as well as for public and private colleges and, critically in this case, by level of tuition.

Higher education institutions have already begun to see decreasing enrollment numbers, even as higher education enrollment is predicted to drop precipitously starting in 2025. Much of the decrease in enrollment will be driven by demographic trends about which higher education institutions can do little, making the retention of students who do enroll that much more important. Overall retention rates have stagnated and differential retention rates by race and ethnicity have persisted. If higher education institutions, researchers, and policy makers are to improve retention rates, a critical examination of the current state and future directions of retention research is essential.This edited volume begins that examination by addressing several questions: What are the needed directions in theory and research on college student persistence and how do we translate new theory and research into effective practices? Are we asking the right questions, looking in the right places, or trying to apply out-of-date theories to new populations? In short, how can the research community help institutions improve retention in this challenging time?

This report studies the retention practices of over 60 North American colleges and universities, exploring the most critical factors to retention success as cited by the survey participants. The comprehensive data in the report covers a wide array of statistics and trends essential to any administration's assessment of its own retention policies, including detailed retention rates for first-year and part-time students, institutional spending on consultants and conferences, overall tutoring efforts, and the perceived impact of various student services on retention success. How does the current economic climate affect financial aid and tuition, and how do these, in turn, affect student retention? What roles do exit interviews play? What about academic advising and counseling services, or childcare services, or peer mentoring? The 116-page report presents data broken out by enrollment size, public or private school status, and type of college, offering end users a look at the strategies and practices of a broad range of institutions. Now administrators can see which schools track retention rates by gender, or by declared academic major, by race or ethnicity, and more. Participants share their success stories as well as the pitfalls of student retention and their expectations for the future.

Improving Student Retention in Higher Education provides a practical, curriculum-based response to the current situation in higher education, where participating students emanate from a range of backgrounds; international and lower socioeconomic backgrounds, mature aged students, students with disabilities as well as those for whom higher education is the first family experience. Underpinned by research indicating that students are more likely to continue with higher education if they are engaged in their studies and have developed networks and relationships with their fellow students, this book presents best practice examples of innovative and inclusive curriculum, from a range of countries.