ASCEND Podcast

As we discussed in a previous episode, it is so important for a campus to all be on the same page when it comes to working toward a retention or completion goal. One of the key aspects of this task is helping everyone understand the “why” of what we are doing and setting proper expectations, for the campus collectively and each employee individually. These expectations (or goals) must be quantifiable, measurable, and achievable. More importantly, leaders must follow up regularly and hold staff accountable to these goals and expectations. If not, the organization will quickly return to its homeostatic state of just doing what it has always done.

Too often we overcomplicate retention efforts. In many instances, we feel that we need a large, expensive, and complicated program before we will ever see an increase in retention. Sometimes, the most effective retention efforts are a simple hello, a friendly smile, or perhaps a faculty member or administrator remembering a small thing about our lives (our hometown, name of our high school, etc.). So why not get back to the basics?

Many college students are concerned about finances, debt, and jobs. Notwithstanding this concern, college students often lack the knowledge, experience, and training needed to manage their finances, establish a budget, apply for scholarships or Pell grants, or understand the nuances of loans. Therefore, out of necessity, increasing financial literacy has become one of the most critical steps in helping students stay in college. To increase financial literacy on campus, we recommend that campuses begin teaching these skills to first-year students immediately upon matriculation.

We all have hunches as to why students withdraw based on our own experiences and conversations, but do we have actual data to back our beliefs? 

We wanted to know exactly why students were leaving our institution and so we decided the best way to find out was simply to ask. We got on the phone and started calling every single student who left our campus over a two-year period of time. We were not sure what to expect from this exercise but quickly discovered that our former students were very open to talking about their experience on our campus. 

In this episode we talk about how this research project changed everything for our campus. This exercise is what led us to a deep dive study of Generation Z and first-generation students and why these groups of students are not as willing to come to us for help. As a result we launched our peer mentoring program and committed to refocus our efforts on getting to know our students better.  And, in the end, we believe this focus of getting to know our students better has been key to our success and increased retention rates.

New episodes release every Monday.

The research is very clear when it comes to the short window colleges and universities have to “seal the deal” with new students. Typically, students will decide whether or not they plan on continuing at your institution within the first six weeks. Our personal experience is that we have up until Thanksgiving break to help students get connected, feel at home, and decide they want to stay.

In this episode we talk about how to help  students get off to a great start. Campuses need to have a strategic and coordinated plan to communicate and nudge students along toward success. 

In many situations students arrive on campus without knowing another student. This can be a real challenge for many, and if not given opportunities to engage and connect with other students, it will be difficult to retain these newcomers. Given the significant research conducted by Alexander Astin, Vincent Tinto, and others, helping students develop a sense of belonging, providing means for them to feel connected, and opening avenues for them to engage with other students should become a top priority for institutions of higher education. Unfortunately, too many colleges and universities wait until the student arrives on campus before they try to connect the student to the fabric of campus life. In many situations, this can be too late. We have found that providing opportunities for students to engage with each other in interest-based groups before the start of school can go a long way in providing a deeper sense of belonging, connection, and engagement before the first day of class.

New episodes will be released every Monday!

Changing the culture of a campus to be more student-centered can be a monumental task. But, it is absolutely essential if you are hoping to make significant progress toward your goals of increasing retention rates. The challenge is, shifting the culture can be very hard, will take a tremendous amount of effort, and will take a few years to fully accomplish.

In this episode, we talk about the change framework that we found to be most applicable and easily understood.  The model comes from Harvard professor, John Kotter's book, Leading Change (1996). This easy to follow approach provides step-by-step suggestions that leaders can implement in any organization.

New episodes released every Monday!

A significant pressure for many new students comes from having to maintain a high-enough GPA in order to keep their scholarships.  Most new students are not only wrestling with the increased academic demands of college, but many are also learning for the first time how to live on their own and be independent.  In response, we adjusted our scholarship policy to ensure that each student on scholarship maintains their scholarship for both semesters of their first year, regardless of their first-semester GPA. 

The second scholarship initiative to improve retention rates are to automatically “step down” students to the scholarship level just below the one they currently had rather than completely removing their scholarship. 

New episodes will be released every Monday.

One of the first (and most important) things you must do to improve retention and completion on your campus is to assemble a Student Success Team.  This team should discuss what student success looks like on your campus, establish expectations and uniform goals and metrics, and  disseminate your student success vision across campus.

Who should be on this Student Success Team?  In this podcast we discuss the offices, units, and areas on your campus that should be included in these important conversations.

And, who should lead the campus Student Success Team? The institution’s Chief Retention Officer, or as we like to call this position, “The Designated Worrier.” This person is typically a vice president or associate vice president level position that is given authority, resources, and autonomy to drive forward campus initiatives related to retention efforts from the president and other high-level campus leaders. 

If a campus is serious about improving retention rates, it must create a Student Success Team that is led by a Chief Retention Officer and has the ability to share meaningful information about students with other members of the success team.

New episodes will be released every Monday.

After years of trying everything outlined in the literature and still experiencing many years of stagnant retention rates at our institution, it was clear that we had to try something different. We decided to go back to the drawing board, throw out everything we were doing and start over from scratch. 

After countless hours brainstorming, strategizing, and rethinking our approach we developed our homegrown ASCEND model -- Affordability, Support, Culture, Engagement, Nudges, and Data. As a result of the implementation of this new model, we saw immediate improvements in retention and completion rates.

New episodes will be released every Monday.