By Dr. John Haller, Vice President of Enrollment Management & New Student Strategies, University of Miami and Associate Consultant, AACRAO Consulting
The book, Won’t Lose This Dream, by Andrew Gumbel (2020), documents a number of the student success initiatives championed by expert Tim Renick at Georgia State University. I had the opportunity to hear Tim speak on some of the best practices they engaged in at Georgia State. This got me thinking about some of the successful practices I experienced at a couple of institutions where I served.
First, for those students who stumble in the first term, there is an opportunity to implement a second-term program where students can engage in an academic enrichment experience to get them back on track academically. There is also an opportunity to incentivize students to join. Students who complete the program and earn a GPA in one term they need to achieve in two terms to maintain their financial aid will not have their financial aid adversely impacted by satisfactory academic progress requirements. The experience involves seminars on time management, study skills, and career preparation. It involves intrusive advising sessions where students work one-on-one with a student success coach who assists in the above topics. At two institutions, the retention and second-term GPA increase students realized was meaningful. While launching the programs was initially met with some resistance, one dean partnered on a pilot program. After experiencing success, other college deans joined in and were willing to pilot the program in their respective colleges.
Next, some students attend college and receive either no or demonstrate little financial need, yet the need is there. Within this population of students, some have been incredibly successful inside and outside of the classroom. These students can be at risk for attrition because of their lack of demonstrated financial need. To overcome this, at two institutions, we launched programs where these successful students could earn additional financial aid based on their successful experiences inside and outside of the classroom. The program involved an application that highlighted their academic success, extracurricular achievements, and a recommendation from a faculty member. The awards helped increase student persistence.
Finding Pathways
When students first enroll in college, the path to student success can be unclear. Where do students go with questions? What do they want to achieve? What do they want to study? How do they spend their time studying efficiently and effectively? At one institution, we launched a first-year seminar, capped at 20 students, where we worked to answer each of the above questions. Like the second-term enrichment program, the seminar involved learning about time management, and study skills and integrated a career development component. Students had the facilitator as a resource to get answers to questions, thereby reducing feelings of isolation and increasing timely support. Again, while the seminar was met with some initial resistance, we found a dean willing to pilot. After showing the success of the program, meaning student attrition was meaningfully less for students who had taken the seminar than not, the program grew to about 1,000 enrolled students.
Last, at two institutions, I found students who were near graduation who stopped out and were no longer enrolled for a variety of personal or financial reasons. In this case, we contacted those students who were within two courses of graduation and incentivized them to return to complete their degree by providing additional financial assistance. This outreach and additional financial aid were life-changing for the students who participated. Students saw that the institution cared about college completion and they were now financially able to achieve their dream of completing a college degree. The feedback students shared as a result brought tears to my eyes. Some have gone on to medical or graduate school because they were able to complete their undergraduate degrees.
The above programs are not magical in solving the student success puzzle. However, they are tools that allow institutions to help students achieve their educational goals. They have proven to be meaningful in helping students either get on paths to success or get back on track.
To discuss how AACRAO Consulting can assist you with student success initiatives, contact us at consulting@aacrao.org or visit us online at AACRAO Consulting.