The Tassel's Worth the
Hassle!: College-wide Efforts
to Increase Graduation Rate
Presented by
Ms. Estela LeVario-Guttierrez,
Dean of Students Services
Ms. Elena Bubnova,
Director of Institutional Research
2011 Association for Institutional Research
Toronto, Canada
May 23, 2011
Agenda
• Importance of Graduation Rates
• Connection of Reporting to Other College
Operations
• Collective Analysis of Factors Contributing to
Graduation Rates
• New College Initiatives to Improve Graduation
Rates
• Questions, discussion
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
1
Institutional Overview
Institutional Profile (Fall 2010)
Headcount: 13,139
FTE Students: 7,152
Full-time Faculty: 174
Part-time Faculty: 409
Student Profile
54% between 18-24 years of age
32% minority students
Approx. 60% of FTE in Transfer/Gen Ed courses
Multiple Sites
5 main sites
30+ additional sites throughout the community
Total Budget: approx. $49M
Enrollment Growth (since 2000)
Almost 42% in AAFTE
Approx. 21% growth in headcount
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
Importance of Graduation
• Challenge for many institutions, especially
community colleges
– Student enrollment patterns and motivation
– Streamlined reporting and data validity
• Need to research factors contributing to degree
attainment
• Importance of close collaboration with other
areas of the college, such as Student Services
• GRS is one of the primary performance
indicator used by the external public
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
3
TMCC GRS Trends
Graduation Rate by Cohort
1999-04 Cohorts
12%
10%
10%
8%
9%
8%
6%
6%
6%
5%
4%
2%
0%
Fall 1999
Fall 2000
Fall 2001
Fall 2002
Fall 2003
Fall 2004
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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Work Group
• ‘Graduation Count Down’ Work Group
– IR
– Student Services (A&R, Advising, Testing, Fin Aid)
– PIO/Marketing
• Identified Point Persons
• Outlined Responsibilities
– IR: generating lists of students and providing it to Student Services
according to agreed upon time lines
– Student Services: contacting students; DARs analysis; on-campus
event
– PIO/Marketing: design of reach out materials (letters, etc.)
– Etc.
• Discussed Resources
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
5
Reporting and College Operations
• In-take processes and principles that facilitate
flow of student data into the resident databases
• Front-end operations and reporting of data
– Ed goal identification
– Admit type data
• IR’s involvement with many business process
decisions in student services areas that might
impact the data
– Changes in application for admission
– Tracking student cohorts
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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Analysis of Graduation Factors
• Educating the campus community regarding
GRS
– Survey methodology
– Student cohort
– GRS cohort characteristics and educational
experiences
– Entering Freshman Class
– GRS cycle (150% of time to graduation)
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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Educating College Community
WHO?
WHEN?
WHAT?
HOW?
New
Full-time
Degree-seeking
Entering every
Fall semester
Graduate with
degree or
certificate
Within 150%
of the allotted
time (2 yrs for CT; 3 yrs
for degree)
IPEDS Graduation Rate
•NSHE Performance Benchmark
•Most widely used outcome measure in HE
•Highly publicized
•Likely result expected by general public
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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Educating College Community
IPEDS
Cohort
Reported to
IPEDS
To Count,
Must
Graduate by:
Fall 08
Spring 12
Summer 11
Fall 09
Spring 13
Summer 12
Fall 10
Spring 14
Summer 13
*During any given AY, there are 3 GRS cohorts on campus that are all at different
points in their journey towards graduation
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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Educating College Community
New, Full-Time, Degree-Seeking Students 3-Year Outcomes
(Fall 2005 Cohort N = 524)
Current Grad Rate
as reported to
IPEDS:
Current TransferOut Rate as
reported to IPEDS:
Still Enrolled After
3 Years
(Persister):
Successful
Transition to
Higher Ed (30+
credits):
9%
17%
26%
11%
(N = 49)
(N = 88)
(N = 134)
(N = 59)
Combined Graduation /
Transfer-out /
Still Enrolled /
Successful Transition Rate:
63%
(N = 330)
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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Educating College Community
Potential Grads
• Fall 05 Cohort (focus of Spr 09 report)
– 10 students appear to have all the
requirements for a certificate of general
education
– This would increase grad rate to over 11%,
making it highest ever
– Another 121 students appear to have all the
requirements for a certificate of general
education except the human relations
requirement (72 have diversity credit)
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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Educating College Community
Potential Grads
• Students with 30 credits – no degree
• Students with 60 credits – no degree
• Pre-nursing students not admitted into the
nursing program
All with significant amount of relevant course work
All with a pretty good chance of NEVER graduating
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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Analysis of Graduation Factors
• Importance of completing math during first year
– Students who complete math during their first year graduate at
higher rates
• Importance of completing remedial courses
immediately upon matriculation
•
– New freshmen students who complete all required developmental
courses early graduate at a rate nearly double that of our college-wide
graduation rate
Importance of 2nd semester persistence
– If students do not persist to 2nd semester they do not graduate
– Only 1 in 20 will graduate , if they do not persist fall to fall
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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Analysis of Graduation Factors
• Accuracy of proper ed goal identification
– Missing ed goal data being converted to AA
– Transfer students taking few classes
• Students with severe deficiencies in basic skills
– ATB policy
• Starting a campus-wide discussion of graduation
importance
• Demonstrating outcomes beyond GRS
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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Proposed Plan
Year 3
*Outreach to near grads
Year 1
*Research grad prospects
*Fall cohort enters
and award
*On-campus event
*Count of your
during 1st semester
blessings (i.e. compute
GR)
Education Experience at TMCC
Year 2
*Touch currently enrolled
*Outreach to drop-out w
at least 30 credits
during 1st semester
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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New Initiatives – Year 1
• Nurture each graduation cohort
–
–
–
–
Welcome to campus during 1st semester
Let students know they are part of a group with similar goals
Outline advantages of staying on track
Emphasize assistance available, etc.
• Enhanced matriculation services
– Assessment and Placement
– Advising
– Orientation
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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New Initiatives – Year 1
• Study Skills and College Success Courses
• Some student population are encouraged to address
developmental deficiencies before enrolling Full-time
– 9 credit limit policy
• Better tracking
– GRS cohorts flagged in PS
– Easy identification of GRS students by faculty on class roasters
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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New Initiatives – Year 2, 3
• Pay attention to what they are doing, not what they are
saying (i.e. ed goal)
– DARs
– Analysis of course work beyond declared major
• Help them stay on track
– Mid-semester progress reports
• Proactive outreach by Student Services to grads and
near grads
• Reverse transfer
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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New Initiatives - Overall
• Collaboration between IR, Student Services,
Advancement and Fin Aid offices
– Scholarship opportunities for the members of the GRS cohort
• Faculty advising initiative in progress
• Collaboration with local school district
• Communication
– Stay in touch with them throughout the 3 yrs
– Alert to upcoming registration
– Copies of DARs reports
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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New Initiatives - Overall
• Collaborations with local school district to connect
academic experiences in high school to post-secondary
success
– ACCUPLACER placement exam administration in high schools
to help address basic skills deficiencies early
– Summer bridge program to give incoming students a jump start
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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TMCC Class of 2010
• Nurture each graduation cohort
–
–
–
–
Welcome to campus during 1st semester
Let students know they are part of a group with similar goals
Outline advantages of staying on track
Emphasize assistance available, etc.
• Communication
– Stay in touch with them throughout the 3 yrs
– Alert to upcoming registration
– Copies of DARs reports
• Pay attention to what they are doing, not what they are
saying (i.e. ed goal)
– DARs
– Analysis of course work beyond declared major
• Help them stay on track
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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IPEDS GRS Cohort Contact Life Cycle (SAMPLE)
Year
1st Year
Activities
2nd Year
Activities
Who
What
When
Fall
ALL
on-campus event
10/15
* GRS cohort 'orientation'
* counselors on hand to review ed plans
* dates for spring registration
617
ALL
Letter
3/15
* dates for summer/fall reg
617
Here in Spring
on-campus event
5/1
* celebrate completion of 1st year
* counselors on hand to review ed plans
* help get students registered for fall
496
Summer
15+ credits (retained)
Phone Call
6/15
* call cohort students who are not enrolled for fall term
157
Fall
ALL Non-Grads
Letter
10/15
* dates for spring reg
616
30+ credits (retained)
Letter
3/15
* dates for summer/fall reg
* cc of DARS report
216
182
Spring
Purpose
Fall 06
Example
Term
30+ credits (retained)
Here in Spring
on-campus event
5/1
* celebrate completion of 2nd year
* counselors on hand to review ed plans
* review DARS reports
* help get students registered for fall
30+ credits (retained)
Phone Call
6/15
* call cohort students who are not enrolled for fall term
128
45+ credits (retained or
enrolled) or students
within 6 credits of
certificate
Letter
10/15
* dates for spring reg
* cc of DARS report
184
45+ credits (retained or
enrolled) or students
within 6 credits of
certificate
Phone Call
12/15
* call cohort students who are not enrolled for spring term
* review DARS report
116
Spring
30-59 and 60+ credits
(retained or enrolled)
Phone Call
3/15
*A&R review of DARs
*Contact student if eligible or within 6 credits of cert/degree to
enroll in summer
119
Summer
30+ credits retained by
non-grads
Award
6/1
*A&R review of DARs
*Award/post degree if eligible
Spring
Summer
Fall
3rd Year
Activities
?
TMCC GRS Trends
Graduation Rate by Cohort
2001-07 Cohorts
18%
17%
16%
14%
12%
13%
11%
10%
10%
8%
9%
6%
6%
6%
4%
2%
0%
Fall 2001
Fall 2002
Fall 2003
Fall 2004
Fall 2005
Fall 2006
Fall 2007
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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Ingredients of Success
• Understanding of the graduation rate
concept and time frames
• Understanding of the process and goals
• Attention to detail
• Strong and efficient organization
• Ownership of the effort
• Investment in the ultimate result – helping
more students graduate
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
24
Ingredients of Success
• Some changes in A&R processes may be
needed
• Quick turn around at some points of the
process
• Thorough understanding of the process
and goals
• Need to refine activities and steps
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
25
QUESTIONS?
The Tassel’s Worth the Hassle – AIR 2011
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Prepared by
TMCC Office of Institutional Research
TMCC Student Services
7000 Dandini Blvd, RDMT 200 D
Reno, NV 89512-3999
ph: (775) 673-8240
fax: (775) 674-7981
Visit TMCC IR Web Page at
http://www.tmcc.edu/ir/