Graduation is more than just numbers
In for four and out the door. Not exactly.
In 2001, Utah State University accepted about 98 percent of students who applied, and lost one-third of its freshmen class after their first year.
Since then USU has worked to not only admit and enroll students, but to admit and enroll students to graduate them. Since 2001, USU has increased its retention rate by 10 points, from 66 percent to 75 percent and is now in the running for the National Retention Excellence Award in July, said Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Research Joyce Kinkead.
The retention report to the Faculty Senate in November of 2004 states the many strategies the university has implemented in order to raise retention.
“We’re not where we need to be, but we are better then we were,” said Kinkead.
Kinkead said they have worked to “transform the university” in the past three years, adopting a “systematic, muti-faceted institution-wide approach to student success and retention.” That transformation has been appropriately titled, “Transformation U.”
“We’ve invested a lot,” Kinkead said, “It is much more efficient to give a seat to a student who will stay there.”
Melissa Kincart, retention specialist at USU, said, “Retention begins with recruitment.”
Although the university spends about $154 per student for recruitment, and that money is lost when a student does not continue into their second year, Kinkead said, no college education is wasted, even if it’s just one year.
“It may be the best thing that ever happened to them,” Kinkead said.
Mounted on the wall in Kinkead’s office, is an article printed by the Deseret Morning News highlighting the progress of retention at Utah State University it states, “Make a student feel like he matters and he’ll be back for more. Make him feel like a nobody and he won’t.”
Kinkead said the university has focused on becoming more student friendly and is trying to strengthen the connection between students and faculty, but it is important to admit the right students to begin with.
One of the biggest problems that pulled retention rates down in 2001 was admitting between 11 to 13 percent of students below the application standards. The Board of Regents allows for 5 percent of students to be admitted below standard, based on talent in athletics and fine arts or if they are locals and have no place else to go. USU was admitting more than double what is recommended, taking on more “at-risk students.”
One goal of Transformation U was to reduce the number of at-risk students and increase the resources available to them. Since 2001, the university has raised the average incoming ACT to 24 and has been successful in “enrolling the best prepared freshmen class in USU’s history.”
One of the major groups of at-risk students Transformation U focused on, were the undeclared freshmen.
Kinkead said many students enter USU undeclared and discover USU don’t offer the program they are interested in.
Kinkead said they are trying to fix this problem by requiring applicants to submit top three major choices with their university application, in an effort to eliminate those applicants with interests in degrees the university doesn’t offer, and help them find the university that is the right fit.
Kinkead said at-risk students are not always who you think. A lot of honors students are at-risk because they are so talented they can do anything. They often have a problem focusing in on one thing they are interested in. These student have too many options to choose from, they remain undecided or try to do multiple degrees at once, she said.
To graduate with one degree in four years is much more efficient than taking longer to earn multiply undergraduate degrees at once, Kinkead said.
“You could get a graduate degree in the same time, rather then one jumbo undergraduate,” Kinkead said. “There are definitely choices and consequences.”
Analysis show that on average, 25 percent of high-achieving students don’t return. Since Transformation U, retention rate of high-ability students and USU moved from 80 percent to 96 percent in just three years.
Another at risk group, may be those students that are working their way through and paying for their education on their own. In most states, the families of students pay for most college expenses, but in Utah, it is a different story. Because of the size of families in Utah, more students are expected to cover their own education expenses compared with any other state.
With the increase in tuition, many students paying their own way may think the extra cash is too much to handle.
Kinkead said the tuition increase shouldn’t make that big of a difference in the retention rate. The increase will be $275 for current students, which is actually $100 less than the original plan.
The question is, Kinkead said, “Is $275 going to make or break a student?”
Kincart said the tuition increase has the potential to impact retention, but doesn’t think it is likely.
“I don’t believe students will be able to find another institution as committed to quality academics and student success as USU is for the price,” Kincart said.
Many students in Utah leave college early for church service or marriage at an early age. Kincart said the university loses about 400 male, first-year students to LDS missions per year. Those 400 males and others who are on military leave are exempt from being calculated into the retention rate.
It has been hard to track how many of those missionaries return because the leave of absence system that allows the university to track those that return, wasn’t introduced until the 2002-03 school year, as part of Transformation U.
Kincart said the university should have a better tracking of those who return this fall. With the leave of absence policy in place, Kincart said it will allow the university to understand why students left, and help recruit them to come back.
Other aspects of Transformation U include:
* A major overhaul of the general catalog aimed at helping at-risk students. The new catalog will include all the major requirement sheets as well as four-year-plans set up by most of the departments, and will be given to all incoming freshmen.
* An expansion of the University Undergraduate Advising and Transfer Center.
* The creation of course “clusters” which set freshmen on the right course by getting them in the right classes for their degree from their first semester, by choosing a “cookie cutter” schedule of classes put together by department advisors.
* The expansion of the Connections program to offer Honors connections classes and peer mentors throughout the fall semester of the students first year.
* The development of the four-year guarantee program, which sets up a contract between advisor and student to plan out a way to graduate in four years. If the school in some way sets a student back, the university will pay the tuition for all remaining semesters.
Kinkead said 100 students have taken advantage of this program and the school hasn’t had to pay out yet, “and we never will, we will make it happen.”
Kincart said although the university has worked very hard in the past 4 years to help the students be successful, it is important for the students to be responsible in their own education.
“Students need to take control,” Kincart said, “and be proactive about their academic plan.”
Kincart suggests that students meet with their adviser and plan out a four-year degree, or meet with an undeclared adviser to find a path that interests you to start setting goals.
Kincart said she urges students who are planning to leave the university for any reason to contact the Matriculation adviser in the Registrars Office to complete an approved leave of absence or complete withdrawal.
-etippetts@cc.usu.edu