Retaining Students:
One Registrar’s
Perspective Across
Public and Private
Institutions
Dr. Brad Burch
IACRAO
October 29, 2015
My Higher Education
Work History

1986-1989
Dorm Residence Hall Director, EKU

1993-1995
Graduate Assistant, UNCGreensboro

1995-1997
Academic Advisor, UNCGreensboro

1997-2002
Registrar’s Office, UNCGreensboro

2002-2003
Admissions, UNCGreensboro

2003-2011
Registrar, Guilford Technical CC

2011-Present
Registrar, DeVry University, Addison, IL
Why the need for this
presentation?

Easier and cheaper to retain students than to recruit
new students

Persistence: semester to semester

Retention: year to year

Retention makes a difference in
students’ lives!
Who Is Responsible For
Retention?

Student – hey, you should not be here if you are not
ready to go to class and do the assignments

Faculty – it is your responsibility to nurture students so
that students are taught/engaged and not just lectured
at

Staff – it is your responsibility to make persistence/
retention programs work

Administrators – it is your responsibility to find funding
and create programs which enable student success.
Students Are Responsible for
Their Own Retention

Sink or Swim

Weed out classes (size, difficulty)

Student’s responsibility
Is this correct? Yes but Not Entirely
Yes – students need to be accountable for their education and be
motivated and ready to make the commitment
Not entirely – the educational institution should take some
responsibility for aiding student success (processes, study skills,
motivation, campus activity engagement, faculty engagement, etc.)
NOTE – data show that students are most open to institutional
intervention in the first year (Tinto, Completing College, 2012).
Faculty Are Responsible For Student
Retention
What are the credentials required to teach at your institution?
What is required for promotion and tenure? Is quality of teaching,
advising and/or student retention in the mix?
 What is your institution doing to aid instruction on campus? Is there a
Faculty Teaching and Learning Center or some similar vehicle?
 Faculty are not just in front of a class to “Profess”
 Faculty should always be “On Stage” and engaging

Is this correct? Yes but Not Entirely
Yes – faculty are hired to teach as at least a part of their contract.
Teaching means pedagogically conveying information to students.
Not entirely – faculty are hired to teach but that is just a small portion of
their commitment to the educational institution (research, funding,
college service); division of duties depends on the college/university.
Staff Are Responsible For
Student Retention

An office is responsible for student retention

Academic Advising

Office of Enrollment Management

Does your school have an office with this responsibility? What are the
titles?
Is this correct? Yes but Not Entirely
Yes – it is good to see schools place an emphasis on retaining students, to
place dollars behind those efforts, and create programs that target student
retention.
Not entirely – student retention is not the responsibility of one office.
Enrollment management should be a culture that permeates throughout the
college. Every student encounter is a moment of truth – or to paraphrase
Disney: every encounter is an opportunity to WOW the student.
Administrators Are Responsible
For Student Retention

Create policies and procedures that are “retention-friendly”

What is an example of a retention-friendly student policy or procedure?


One example from Guilford Technical Community College
Are there portions of your academic policy that positively reflect an
emphasis on student persistence and success?
Is this correct? Yes but Not Entirely
Yes – it is good for institutions to recognize that academic success is an issue
that can be affected by student-friendly policies and procedures
Not entirely – these policies/procedures need to be consistently
implemented which requires college-wide buy-in; the best retention
policies/procedures are little without complete implementation.
A Pattern?

All groups affiliated with students need to be involved
in retention:
Students
Faculty
Staff
Administrators
Academic Reasons Students Stop (drop-out,
stop-out, transfer, reverse transfer, etc.)

Poor study habits

Poor academic or non-academic preparation

New degree program not offered at institution

Do not ask for help

Poor professor communication

Want to take General Education courses elsewhere

Failed elsewhere and cannot (does not) change prior habits

Change: Remember The Titans:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=remember+the+titans+change&FORM=VIRE1#view=detail&mid=06892784B66
FEF312EE406892784B66FEF312EE4

Academic Dismissal

Completed certificate, diploma, associate’s, bachelor’s, graduate degree

Others?
Financial Reasons Students Stop

Personal finances

Not enough financial aid (grants, loans, etc.)

Unemployment/Student needs a job

New job

Two jobs

Campus housing too expensive so moving back home

Students might forget that wealth increases two ways:

Increased income

Decreased expenses

Aggregate Loan Limits

Use refund checks to live on

Don’t want to take out loans with interest

Balance prevents registration

Others?
Social Reasons Students Stop

Poor time management

Lack of motivation

Homesick – want to live closer to home

Transportation – and no OnLine option

Work is a higher priority than education

Lack of family support

Don’t feel like they fit in

NOBODY CARES

Not enough clubs/activities

Want a residence hall if attending a commuter school

Campus too big or too small

Life

Move

Birth in the family

Death in the family

Medical for self or family

Vacation

Others?
Retention Ideas

Professors calling students that are absent (John Roueche, retired professor at the
University of Texas at Austin’s CC Leadership Program, speaks about teachers using
the phone) – or other means of communication for students that do not attend
(texting, e-mails, others?)

Faculty Alerts

Students calling students

Deans calling students

Academic advisors calling students

Finding students who miss the first class; first two weeks of attendance are critical

First semester GPAs

CC COMMON COURSE NUMBERING SYSTEM – IL adopting a common course numbering
system might aid students transferring and decrease student loss of credit;
programs like the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI) aid those students in transition
(The Transfer Handbook)
Some Ideas That Require
Predictive Analytics



Can we predict in advance those students that are
more at risk and therefore target that population?
A predictive first semester GPA?
Big Data is already being collected by schools – but
the challenge is sorting and using the data
 High school GPA
 Age
 Gender
 Ethnicity
 High School
 Previous college or other educational
institution
 Program
 First Year
Where are the gaps in retention? (Burch, 2015)
Academic Support

The Library makes a class or small group presentation on library
services, Ask A Librarian, using select resources and citing your sources

Academic Support Center (aka Tutor Center, etc.) visits to showcase
tutor and paper review services. These are FREE services on most
campuses

Faculty tutors

Peer tutors

Writing Center (proofreading services)

Supplemental Instruction

First Year Program/class

Pro-active (intrusive) academic and career advising

Discussion of school’s academic integrity policy

Others?
Financial and Social Support

A Personal Finance class required for all programs

Student job board (virtual)

Lunch and Learns (time mgt., study skills, etc.)

STUDENT CARE permeates campus

Public transportation student discount

Day care

New student clubs/organizations

Others?
A Possible First Year
Persistence/Retention Plan

New Student Orientation (One hour to one day to one
semester; faculty/peer engagement)

Classroom Experience (Professional development for
teaching; faculty-to-faculty mentoring)

Advising (pro-active)

FYE class (time management, study skills, Go to class,
complete all homework on time, etc.)

Supplemental Instruction (Student mentors; highimpact/gateway classes)

Campus Engagement (Student activities, athletics, etc.)

Assess and Revise
Continuing Student Review
Faculty
Deans/Administrators
Academic Advisors
Financial Aid advisors
Review current grades, academic, financial, social issues
Where Do We Go From Here?

What would it take at your institution to increase
persistence and retention?

Will it involve a cultural shift at your school?

Who needs to be involved?

Is there a cost? Where does funding come from?

If your institution increased retention by
5% from the First Year to the Second Year,
how many students would be affected?
One Final Thought
Help your students find their verse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_zsMwCOoEs
Dead Poets Society
References

Burch, B. (October, 2015) Using Student Data To Improve
Persistence. E-Source For College Transitions. National
Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in
Transition. The University of South Carolina.

Black, J. (2001) The Strategic Enrollment Management
Revolution. AACRAO. Washington, D.C.

Pascarella, E., & Terenzini, P. (1991) How College Affects
Students: Twenty years of research. Jossey-Bass. San
Francisco.

Pascarella, E., & Terenzini, P. (2005) How College Affects
Students (Volume 2): A third decade of research. John Wiley &
Sons, Inc. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco.

Tinto, V. (2012) Completing College. University of Chicago
Press: Chicago.

The Transfer Handbook (2015) AACRAO: Washington, D.C.