ASCEND Podcast

Students often struggle getting along with their roommates, which sometimes leads to a desire to return back home.  To increase the likelihood of roommates getting along and ultimately retaining, try pairing them with students who have similar interests, live similar schedules, and enjoy similar living arrangements. 

Many campuses already do this via expensive 3rd party software programs.  But, it can also be done cheaply with a simple paper roommate matching profile form. If you are not doing this, give it a try.

Happy thanksgiving to all our ASCEND Podcast friends and listeners!

A fun way to include faculty in creating a culture of care and concern is to involve them in our retention efforts from the very beginning of the semester. Each year, during our Fall Welcome Week, we split up all our new incoming students into small groups based on similar interests and hobbies. We then carve out some time during our welcome week for these groups of students to enjoy their interest or hobby together. For example, if their shared interest is Harry Potter, they may watch a Harry Potter movie as a group. Or, if their shared hobby is mountain biking, they may go for a ride all together. 

When we first started this interest-based group model, we had faculty who share the same hobby tell us they would love to join these students during these times set aside on the Welcome Week schedule. From there we invited all interested faculty to participate and have had a tremendous level of involvement. Most importantly, the students love having the faculty tag along and enjoy getting to know them on this level before classes begin for the semester. We have found that this partnership breaks down some of the anxiety and fear about the faculty role and helps students know that faculty are normal people just like them.

Dr. Ed Cabellon from Curry College 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!

With over 26 years in Higher Education, Dr. Ed Cabellon (pronounced "kah-bell-en") currently serves as Vice President of Enrollment Management at Curry College in Milton, MA. Known for his creative and collaborative leadership, Ed specializes in data-driven recruitment, retention, and graduation strategies. An authority on digital technology in higher education, Ed has conducted pivotal research, published extensively, and taught courses at both graduate and undergraduate levels. A sought-after speaker, he has delivered over 75 keynotes across the U.S. and Canada. Outside academia, he co-founded Brockton Beer Company, Brockton Massachusetts' first brewpub, and is an active community member serving on multiple Boards. As a first-generation Filipino-American, Dr. Cabellon's work is deeply informed by his own transformative educational journey. 

We eliminated our old mandatory on-campus orientation and shifted to online modules and a voluntary system where any student who wants can come to campus to perform a Personalized Visit. Here is how it works. The student visits our Personalized Visit homepage and chooses from numerous options to hand pick exactly what he or she would like to accomplish while on campus (i.e. campus tour, visiting your classrooms, meeting with academic advisor, financial aid counselor, etc.  Once submitted, this request goes directly to the student’s peer mentor who immediately goes to work on arranging everything the student wanted to accomplish. The peer mentor then prepares an itinerary and sends it back to the student. On the date of the Personalized Visit, the peer mentor meets the student and provides him or her with a unique, customized visit to campus. Nearly three-quarters of our incoming students select to do this optional Personalized Visit with their peer mentor.

Dr. Kal Srinivas from Syracuse University joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her deep knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts!

As part of Syracuse University’s larger commitment to creating an inclusive student body, Dr. Kal Srinivas works with all schools, colleges and divisions to further the ideals of supporting all students with the underpinning concept being that all students receive the individualized services and support necessary for their success through graduation. 

As the director of student retention and success she assists campus stakeholders in thinking critically, analytically and creatively to meet the needs of our diverse student population, through programs, services and efforts. She supports the success of all students by working collaboratively to identify areas of needed change that would increase student success and retention, discovering what causes attrition, developing recommendations, in addition to alternating systems and procedures to increase retention.

She provides leadership and strategic direction for designated co-curricular and functional units, as well as across all schools and colleges to expand the University’s visibility and reach, which support student retention and success.

Many students face unforeseen financial challenges such as a car repair, medical procedure, job loss, family issues, etc. Such surprises can prevent a student from having enough money to cover their rent, buy books, purchase food for a few weeks, pay for utilities, and so on. These expenses can lead to students withdrawing from the university. To combat this, we set some funds aside for these emergencies that unexpectedly arise. Key staff members from across campus have access to this fund, and after meeting with the student, are able to award a small emergency one-time retention grant up to $2,000 (although the amount is typically closer to $200-$300) to help retain a student. Before deciding to distribute such funds to the student, the staff member will find out if the student is employed (if not, why), how many hours a week the student is working, loan status, whether or not the student applied for scholarships and Pell grants, if the student has family who can help, and how the student is spending their money each week. 

In this special episode, we sat down with conference attendees at the National Symposium for Student Retention (NSSR) which is hosted by the Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange at the University of Oklahoma.

In this episode you'll hear from:

• University of Wyoming - Nycole Courtney & Abby Markley
• Berklee College of Music - Kristina Sharra
• Shenandoah University - Marshell Edney
• Grinnell College - Georgeanna Robinson & Ben Newhouse
• University of Kentucky - Adam Smith
• Indiana University Northwest - Tanice Foltz
• Seminole State College of Florida - Carlee Walkover & Debbie Lynch

We have found over the years that it is important for staff to know exactly which students they are responsible for retaining. Otherwise, if they feel responsible for ALL students, they struggle finding a way to focus their time and energy in a productive manner.

We highly recommend that campuses create a series of dashboards for each individual on campus that has a responsibility to retain a particular population of students. This dashboard or list of students they are in charge of will focus their work efforts. For instance, it is important for those that work in a Veterans Center, Multicultural Center, Non-Traditional Center, Greek Life, etc. to know exactly which students they are responsible for. Each semester we create a cohort list for each of these offices so they can track, monitor progress, and take personal notes on their students. Then, at the conclusion of the semester we calculate the persistence and retention rates of their caseloads and report this data back to the appropriate staff members.

Dr. Michelle Ashcraft from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education joins co-hosts Jared Tippets and Eric Kirby to share her deep knowledge, wisdom, and insights on how campuses can increase their retention and student success efforts!

Dr. Michelle Ashcraft is the inaugural Senior Associate Commissioner and Chief Program Officer at the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. Michelle leads the K-12 Outreach, Career and Technical Education, Postsecondary Transitions and Success, and State Financial Aid teams to increase Indiana’s college-going rate, college completion rate, and in-state retention rate of college graduates. The teams align policies, programs and partnerships to assist Hoosier high school students in earning credentials before graduation, filing FAFSA, taking advantage of direct admissions to Indiana's higher education institutions and maximizing usage of over $400M in state financial aid to complete college on time and enter the workforce in Indiana. Prior to joining the Commission, Michelle served as Director of Purdue Promise at Purdue University for ten years, and previously worked for the University of Kentucky in New Student & Parent Programs. Michelle earned a bachelor’s degree from Purdue University in Organizational Leadership & Supervision before pursuing a master’s degree from the University of South Carolina in Higher Education & Student Affairs. Michelle recently earned her doctoral degree in Higher Education from Purdue University in May 2023.