Retention Task Force Recommendations

Spring 2015

  1. Establish a standing Retention Committee with sub-committees focused on key areas with the purpose of identifying strategies to improve first- to second-year retention, retention after first year, monitoring and evaluating existing efforts, and setting priorities for efforts. (VPEMSA/VPAA)
  1. Library hours should be extended in evenings to at least 11:00 PM Sunday through Thursday and other times as recommended by the Librarian. (Library Director)
  1. Create a common definition of an at-risk student.(Dean of Student Life/Retention Specialist, Deans/Faculty)
  1. Create a Predictive Model to identify the at risk student we want to target based on getting the greatest retention yield for the resources invested. (Dean of Student Life/Retention Specialist/ Deans/Faculty)
  1. Upgrade process for Early Alert by implementing a new database management technology to manage early alert and current student communications. The early alert system should at a minimum include a single electronic form that lists all the students in the class and allows the faculty member to simply click on a box that identifies the concern (e.g. absent class, not turning in work, average below C, appears to be experiencing emotional distress).Reports should be made twice a semester (early and mid-semester) and anytime a student appears in academic or emotional difficulty. Deans should inform faculty of the importance of this activity. Student Affairs should take deliberate intervention when receiving the notice and should inform faculty of the action taken. These reports should also be sent to the coaches of athletes identified on Early Alert. Coaches should immediately meet with the athletes and take corrective action (e.g. ATP). (Retention Specialist, Deans and Faculty)
  1. Inform all students of the financial aid ramifications of withdrawal from College or dropping a course. Add a notice to College website about the financial aid ramifications of dropping below the minimum (12 CH) and require the student to seek approval from their dean before dropping any class. Establish a process to require students to have a meeting with the Retention Specialist prior to withdrawing from the College. Develop a statement alerting students to the SAP considerations when failing/withdrawing from a course for inclusion in the syllabus template. Rename the academic progress link on the financial aid website to something like “Keeping your Financial Aid.” (Retention Specialist, VPAA, Deans, Faculty)
  1. Develop solution to address the current credit load problem for first semester freshmen (14 CH). As noted above, students who drop below 12 credit hours due to dropping or failing a course are put on financial aid warning and dropped from financial aid if they do not pass 12 hours the following semester. There were roughly 37 students put on financial aid warning for this reason last Fall. For the Fall 2015, Deans should make as an option a one hour second eight weeks special topics course so that those dropping a course or those heading toward failing a course will have the opportunity to retain their financial aid. For the Fall 2016 and beyond, an extra one hour should be added to the Freshman first semester. This could be done through an activity course or a special topics course. Freshman would then be taking 15 hours in the Fall and Spring semesters which would qualify them for additional $1000 in financial aid since they would meet the minimum 30 hour rule. (VPAA)
  1. Expand student orientation sessions to non-traditional, spring admits and online students. (Admissions)
  1. Increase efforts to assist students with the timely completion of the financial aid process before arriving on campus in the fall; consider increasing FTE of a current 10 or 11 month employee for this effort. (Financial Aid)
  1. Increase opportunity for students to have a private conversation with the business office and financial aid office by reworking processes and physical space as necessary. (VPAF with Financial Aid/Business Office)
  1. Communicate to student the ramifications of a Financial Aid Warning. Add general financial aid/business office notices to the Blackboard shell. Inform faculty of the ramifications of financial aid warning. (Promote use of myPSC to allow student to monitor financial aid status and notifications – (Staff and Student training)
  1. Develop a campus texting protocol for critically important messages like financial aid warnings and adopt an appropriate texting platform. (Dean of Student Life)
  1. Review the Financial Aid professional association’s recommended best practices and implement where feasible. (Financial Aid Counselor)
  1. Revise academic probation policy; implement a one semester suspension (with appeal process) for any full-time new student who passes zero credits in their first term of enrollment. (VPAA)
  1. All students should be encouraged to access tutoring through the CATS and this should be clearly communicated through the CATS website, orientation and other student sources. Faculty should be encourage to collaborate with the CATS, identify tutoring needs for the student and refer student when needed. (Student Affairs, Faculty, Deans)
  1. There should be an advising training session for all faculty within each school at the beginning of the fall. (VPAA)
  1. Attendance in class. The College should consider a minimum mandatory class attendance policy. Faculty need to diligently report absences of students through Early Alert system. Students not regularly attending classes not reported through Early Alert who fail the course falls on faculty for responsibility (premise: no outreach possible if not reported). (VPAA)
  1. ATP (Athletic Study Hall) should have be revised as follows (VPEMSA):
  2. Hours extended
  3. Athletes should be strictly monitored and supervised by athletics staff to ensure students study while in the program
  4. Explore whether there is a need for more tutors during study time
  1. Athletic Advising (Academic Deans/Student Records/Athletics)
  2. All coaches should receive advising training in use of Degree Audit function in myPSC
  3. All athletes should be advised so as to complete their education within four years – 4-year plan developed with each student and student must share plan with coach once developed
  4. Coaches should review student athlete class schedules with athlete prior to registration to identify any conflicts with athletics
  1. Athletes Attendance in class (Athletic Director, VPAA, Faculty)
  2. Coaches should make random checks to see if the student athletes are in class by walking around to classrooms to observe students in class
  3. Coaches should require class attendance for all athletes. Any student athlete who misses class for an unexcused reason should be penalized progressively with repeated offenders dropped from participation in the sport. Coaches should inform students of this rule when they join the team. This process will only be possible if faculty take attendance for every class and communicate through some system attendance.
  1. Except for games, student athletes should have time to study Monday through Wednesday in the evenings after 7:00 PM. All practices, film sessions, team meetings should occur prior to that time, except practices in the AWAC may occur after 7:00 PM if there is no time available prior to that time due to the multiple use of AWAC. Students should also have access to at least 30 minutes for evening meals prior to the close of the Dining Hall for their evening meal at 7:00PM.(Athletic Director)
  1. Academic as well as athletic performance of students in high school or in other colleges (for transfers) should both be key factors in determining if a student is recruited to play a sport. No student receiving an athletic scholarship should be admitted to PSC to play a sport if not academically qualified to play when matriculating. Coaches should be held accountable for the academic performance of their athletes. (Athletic Director)
  1. A review of time commitments for each sport should be conducted by interviewing a number of student athletes in each sport and reviewing each program’s in season and out of season schedules. Athletics should attempt to minimize class absences by student athletes (VPEMSA/Athletic Director)
  1. Identify KPI’s for Athletics: (VPEMSA/Athletic Director)
  2. Team GPA
  3. Freshman to Sophomore Retention Rate
  4. Graduation Rate
  5. Explore best practices for academic performance reporting
  1. There should be more scheduled events on campus to keep students at PSC during the weekend.Student Activities Coordinator/Director of Residence Life
  1. Scheduling: VPAA/Academic Deans/Admissions
  2. Eliminate 11-12:15 meeting time on Tuesday and Thursday (prime class time) and schedule classes during this time.
  3. Consideration should be given to scheduling all classes (other than labs and student teaching) before 3:15 PM in the afternoon each day.
  4. Begin to offer classes on MWF to test student interest in Spring 2016
  5. Administer a valid survey to incoming students at orientation to determine key factors impacting their enrollment decision and whether four day classes was a major consideration.
  6. Administer valid survey to current students regarding behaviors (i.e. work schedules, home obligations or internships) as related to no Friday classes in fall 2015
  7. Identify other times to dedicate to meetings
  8. Evaluate data in fall 2015 and make recommendation on ideal class schedule to implement for fall 2016.
  1. Implement the recommendations of the College 101 Committee including adopting standard textbook, utilizing the list of course proposed topics, changing name to College Success. In addition, work toward assigning a student mentor to each class who should connect to each student in the class. The retention rate of the students in the class and the student evaluations over two years should be considered in determining faculty effectiveness in the class and whether to assign the faculty member to future College Success teaching. During 2015-16, faculty teaching College Success should collaborate with Admissions and Student Life to better coordinate coursework with transition programming such as Orientation, Welcome Week, and ongoing first year programming. (VPAA, Admissions, Student Life)
  1. First Year Experience General Recommendations for future: Identify the various components of a First Year Experience Program at Peru State (Retention CommitteeSub Group)
  2. Look at models from other institutions
  3. Identify best practices
  4. Develop and implement model that will be successful at Peru State
  5. Develop committee focused on FYE which includes freshman seminar faculty, student life, admissions, athletics, etc.
  1. Identify common themes to be addressed throughout the first year in all areas of the First Year Experience (Retention Committee Sub Group)
  2. Responsibility
  3. Help/Resource Availability
  4. Connections/Leadership Development
  5. Technology Use
  6. Email
  7. Blackboard
  8. Smart Phone connections for email
  1. Welcome Weekend and Early First Year Experience (Retention Specialist, Retention Committee Sub Group)
  2. Integrate common themes into all aspects of Welcome Weekend
  3. Explore Top Cats serving as teaching assistants for freshman seminar courses to serve as mentors during first semester
  4. Identify funding to support initiative
  5. Identify process to select students to serve in role
  6. Develop training program for student mentors
  7. Focus on the college transition and creating connections with the campus
  8. Academic transitions
  9. Bystander Intervention training (required by federal regulation)
  10. Responsibility
  11. Technology
  12. Download the MyPSC app - specific emphasis to notifications
  13. Sync student email account to phone
  14. Download BlackBoard app (if so choose)
  15. Opt in for texting
  16. Emergency Alert System
  17. Time Management
  18. Resources for Help
  1. Help function added to College website (Retention Specialist, Marketing)
  2. Search feature
  3. Email a question – tie to CATS email address
  4. FAQ page