OCTOBER 2003

Keys to Establishing a Student Retention Plan
Contributor: The USA Funds Services SASFAA Team

Student retention is a process that encompasses everything an institution does to improve the qualify of the educational experience for its students. The success of an institution and the success of its students are inseparable.

The guide “Solving the Retention Puzzle” advises, that to retain students, campuses need prevention plans—not recovery plans for attrition. Retention plans must be deliberate, intentional and comprehensive, or the results are likely to be short-lived.

To set the stage for making retention part of your campus culture, “Solving the Retention Puzzle” recommends focusing on the following areas:

  1. Mission statement. Examine your mission statement and its commitment to students. Challenge each campus unit to develop a strategic response to the goals of the mission statement that articulates its commitment to students.
  2. Retention committee. Establish one group with responsibility for developing, coordinating and monitoring all retention initiatives at your institution. The membership should include representatives of all major programs and services on and should be chaired by a faculty member.
  3. Philosophy of student success. Develop and articulate very clearly your institution’s commitment to student success.
  4. Three-year persistence data. Tracking the enrollment patterns of each freshman and each transfer student cohort is a critical step in the retention-planning process. Compare your data with national benchmarks, and share the information with the entire campus.
  5. Campus-assessment data. Use the data from institutional and student assessments to inform the retention efforts of your institution.

“Solving the Retention Puzzle” is a guide located on the USA Funds Web site and provides guidance about enhancing persistence and graduation rates, thereby contributing to lower student-loan default rates. USA Funds developed “Solving the Retention Puzzle” in cooperation with Noel-Levitz, the nation’s leading consultant to higher education on student retention.

McKeon’s Affordability in Higher Education Act
Contributor: Mark Kantrowitz, Director of Advanced Projects, FastWeb

Rep. McKeon on October 16 introduced his proposed legislation, the “Affordability in Higher Education Act.” This is the legislation that would penalize colleges who raise tuition by more than twice the rate of inflation.

Rep. McKeon’s press release can be found by clicking here.

The proposed legislation, according to news reports, differs somewhat from the original proposal. The primary differences are as follows:

Doesn’t take effect until 2005-2006 and colleges wouldn’t have sanctions until starting in 2011.
Changes the number of years a college would have to increase tuition rates by more than twice the inflation rate from two to three.
Exempts colleges that exceed the twice-inflation threshold by $500 or less.
Exempts the least expensive colleges (bottom quartile of each type of college, where the types are community colleges, public colleges, private colleges, and for-profit colleges).
Students at affected colleges would still be eligible for Pell Grants and federal student loans, but not from other federal student aid programs, such as Federal Work Study, SEOG Grants and Perkins Loans.

Kantrowitz notes that he has not been able to find an actual copy of the proposed legislation but that most of his objections to the legislation stands. He notes that it penalizes students, not colleges, and that it will make the situation worse, not better. In particular it makes college less affordable for the students with the greatest financial need. He notes that any legislation that would sanction most of the nation’s most prestigious colleges and universities (including all of the IVY League and the top science and engineering institutions) is deeply flawed.

Permission received from Mark Kantrowitz to reprint excerpts of his email entitled “McKeon’s Affordability in Higher Education,” posted to FINFINAID—L@LISTs.PSU.EDU, October 17, 2003.


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