1. CAD 770 Individual Project
Student # 0183
Dr. Varner

2.  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

4.  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

5.  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

6. 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

7. 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/

8.  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/

9. Two things in common
Administrators and faculty are focused on making
progress
Programs are geared toward helping students on an
individual basis

10. 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/

11.  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.