ASCEND Podcast

Most institutions explore why students have left the institution, which is indeed extremely important data to have. But how often do we explore why students return to the institution? What is it that makes them come back semester after semester? We found that this data can be just as valuable as why students leave.

Aaron Basko from the University of Lynchburg joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share his deep knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts!

Aaron Basko is currently the Vice President of Enrollment and University Outreach at the University of Lynchburg in Lynchburg, VA. He has more than 25 years of experience serving as an enrollment growth specialist and student success strategist. He is the author of seven books, including Find Your Purpose, Manage Your Career and How to Impress U.S. Universities, and has written for The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, University Business, The Times Higher Education, and The Journal of College Admissions. He is also a 2015 Fulbright grant winner.

Another nudge we have utilized, primarily to help get students registered for the next semester, is to have the university president send an email to all students who haven’t registered past a certain date to see what can be done to get the student back. An email from the university president can be a powerful tool for encouraging students to register for classes. The university president holds a position of authority and influence, and their communication can carry significant weight. In drafting this nudge, make sure you find a way to address students by their names or use a personal salutation to make the email feel more individualized. Next, craft an engaging and relevant subject line that piques students' interest and communicates the importance of the email. For example, “Important: Register for Classes Now to Secure Your Spot.” Throughout the text of the email, make sure it has a warm and welcoming tone to establish a connection with students. Expressing the president's excitement for the upcoming semester and their commitment to students' success is also important. With these types of nudges, it is vital to create a sense of urgency by mentioning registration deadlines or the limited availability of certain classes. Address common concerns students might have, such as financial issues or course availability, offer potential solutions or resources, and mention the availability of academic advisors or registration assistance if students have questions or need guidance.

As you might imagine, this nudge can generate a significant number of responses back to the president. We work closely with her team to alleviate the work that this nudge creates. We help write all the responses back to students so she doesn’t have to. And, the most common response we send is something along the lines of, “Thanks for your good questions (or comments). I’m going to connect you to my friends/colleagues in Academic Advising who will be able to directly assist you. I will make sure they reach out to you very soon. And, if you still have other questions (or comments) please don’t hesitate to reach back out to me directly and I’ll continue to help out however I can.”

We find that we get a bump in course registrations every semester after the nudge email goes out from our president. For whatever reason, these students that we have not been able to reach through our traditional outreach efforts from academic advisors, faculty, peer mentors, and others will be responsive to an email from the university president.

We have found in many instances that many students often struggle to go to an event, activity, or program on their own. If they have to go on their own, they often will choose not to go at all. Struggling with attending big events or going somewhere on one's own can be attributed to a variety of factors, including social anxiety, fear of the unknown, lack of confidence, introversion, or previous negative experiences. It's important to recognize that each person is unique, and their struggles may stem from a combination of these factors. To increase the chances of students attending (or feeling more comfortable attending) events and activities, thereby hopefully increasing their sense of belonging and connection to place, we created smaller niche events that were held a few times a week that would allow smaller gatherings based around a particular hobby (i.e. Dungeons and Dragons; painting night, telling ghost stories, etc.)

We have discovered that small group events at college can provide valuable opportunities for introverts and shy students to connect and engage with others in a more comfortable and manageable setting. Here are some ways we have found in which small group events can be designed to cater to the needs of introverts and shy students.

Dr. Glenn Davis from Bowling Green State University joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share his deep knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts!

Glenn Davis is Vice President for Student Engagement and Success at Bowling Green State University. In this role, Glenn collaborates with staff and faculty from across the university to ensure that all students graduate with the knowledge, skills, experience, and confidence they need to be successful on their chosen path. With Jillian Kinzie, Glenn co-edited Radical Reimagining for Student Success in Higher Education (Routledge, 2023), which seeks to answer one key question: What would college look like if students really mattered?

Glenn has a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics from Harvard College, a master’s degree in Medieval Studies from the University of York, and a PhD in English from the University of Texas at Austin.

There are often two competing realities we face when dealing with Generation Z and their view of the workforce. First, they often complain about not having enough money; and second, there are many jobs on our campus that we can’t fill, often in the custodial or food service fields. As we further investigated this issue, we found that some students felt these jobs were beneath them or wondered why they weren’t working at an accounting firm when they were accounting majors or working in the operating room since they wanted to be doctors. We quickly realized how important it is to help students understand that every job counts and that every job can teach them important transferable skills that will prepare them for their future careers.

While peer mentoring programs have become all the rage in higher education, not many peer mentoring programs focus on second-year students. At our institution, the second-year peer mentors (Leads) serve as personal friends, guides, and coaches to each second-year student. Each returning student (or incoming transfer student) is assigned a Lead the summer before they return or start at SUU (usually in April or May). These peer mentors reach out to each student regularly throughout the summer to ensure all questions are answered, the students are registered for classes, and they have completed their second-year checklist. 

Nii Abrahams from Butler University joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share his deep knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts!

Since Fall 2022, Nii Abrahams has served as the inaugural Director of the First Year Experience at Butler University in Indianapolis, where he partners across the 4 campus divisions to ensure all areas work cohesively to create a culture of well-being with intentional systems that cultivate belonging and connectedness for all first-year students on campus. He is extremely passionate about helping college students and young professionals discover, develop, and deploy their gifts and passions to make an impact in their chosen communities. He is frequently invited speaker on leadership, belonging, and ministry.

Before his start at Butler University, Nii was the inaugural Director of Orientation and First Year Experience at Anderson University in Indiana and has held other roles in higher education including Assistant Director of Admissions, and Communication adjunct faculty at Ivy Tech Community College, Southern New Hampshire University online, and Missouri State University. In his life prior to his work in higher education, he has developed a breadth of experience in the marketing world as a communication and content strategist for a national nonprofit and as a digital marketing manager for an east coast branding agency. In addition to his job at Butler, Nii also serves as a volunteer staff pastor at a local church in north Indianapolis, which he helped start in 2016. He holds a Bachelors in Communication with an emphasis in Ethical Leadership and a Master’s in Communication, both from Missouri State University. In his downtime, you can find him spending time with his wife and daughter, playing Monopoly Deal, and searching for the best donut shops in Indianapolis.

Completing a FAFSA has many financial benefits.  So, our Financial Wellness Office created regular and ongoing ‘FAFSA Nights’. During our FAFSA Nights, our Financial Wellness Office reserves a computer lab on campus for the evening to help students apply for FAFSA and answer all questions regarding what FAFSA is and why they should apply. The student turnout to these events is not huge, but every student helped is another student who hopefully doesn’t leave our campus due to financial reasons. 

At our institution we began to see higher levels of withdrawals after certain messages from the institution went out to students. While it is true that Institutions of higher education typically aim to retain students rather than encourage them to withdraw, we found that there may be instances where a message or communication from the institution inadvertently triggers a student to consider withdrawal. To better understand what it was about some of our particular messages that triggered a higher number of withdrawals (and to see if we could change the messaging to minimize withdrawals), we contacted the students who withdrew after each particular message. By using the data we gleaned from these conversations, we were able to better understand what was it about the messaging that triggered the withdrawal and then explored ways to better craft the messaging to minimize its negative impacts. We found that these situations were usually the result of poor communication practices or insensitivity.