It’s been a great, busy, and productive year for the Office of Retention and Student Success.  In case you did not have the chance to attend this year’s presentation at the Provost’s Kickoff, I wanted to give you a quick summary of what was presented.

What has the Office of Retention & Student Success been working on for the last year? 

• Leadership and structure changes
• This new team is more focused on research and data collection than ever before: quantitative and qualitative
• Focused on connecting the line from enrollment to persistence (retention) to progression (forward movement toward degree) to completion (in four to six years)

One thing that we are NOT doing is coming up with quick fix, band-aid solutions, to pump up retention or graduation rates in the short-term. We want sustainable, long-term changes for the better. 

What good news have we found? 

• Four-year graduation rates have improved (9% to 17%)
• Early indications that Fall 2018 FTIC first-year retention rate will be up
• Number of students on probation or suspended each semester has decreased since the founding of the UAC (decreased 25% in last six years)
• Three out of four students in the Fall 2018 FTIC freshman cohort earned a cumulative GPA above 2.0 at the end of their first year. 
• Multi-year averages indicate increased completion rates for African American and Hispanic students at LU
• Three out of four Lamar University graduates are consistently employed in Texas, while internal data indicates that over eighty percent of LU graduates are employed, overall.
• Progress reports data on student performance and interventionshave increased 
• Data for our Conditionally Admitted student’s academic success has shown unexpectedly positive results
• STAR Services served 1,974 unique students throughout the 18-19 academic year, an increase of 56% from 17-18
• The UAC completed 12,450 appointments in the last year
• Our students prefer a variety of communication channels, and we are working to oblige:email some, call others, visit in person with still others, and even piloting texting in specific cases
• Received a 20% response rate of on campus students with the Student Satisfaction Inventory survey administered in December 2018

What are our concerns going forward? 

• Four- and six-year graduation rates are still lower than average
• First-year retention and six-year graduation rates essentially stagnant for over ten years
• African American and male students retain at lower rates than average
• Students taking only 12 or 13 hours in their first year retain at lower rates than average
• Students from large high school graduating classes retain at lower rates than average
• Students from outside the tri-county area retain at lower rates than average
• Students who apply in the Spring semester or later before they begin at LU retain at lower rates
• A huge enrollment growth market exists in Transfer students, but ours have told us in surveys and focus groups that they need better support
• Low response rates to appointment campaigns after progress reports
• For progress reports, data is problematic since we don’t have a complete picture of student's progress when we have incomplete progress reports 

What are we working on to address these concerns, and more generally? 

• Establishing real-time dashboards for monitoring at-risk students, new first-time students, specific groups of students of concern based on historical data, retention rates, progress reports, and graduation rates and associated projections
• Increasing automated standard communication to free staff up to spend more time where it really matters:meeting with and helping students  
• Analyzing historical major change trends and patterns to help struggling students find their best-fit major and complete their degree as efficiently as possible
• Aforementioned LU Outreach and Support program in STAR Services aimed at providing significant support to conditionally admitted students
• A new “15 to Finish” program in the UAC to ensure that the majority of new first-time students are attempting fifteen hours each semester of their first year
• There is a need to better connect academic departments with student support departments. To address this, we have launched and are further developing an academic success coach programhaving at least one coach in each college, and their responsibilities include: proactive outreach to students at risk to fail or not return, assistance connecting students to support services, assistance to faculty with connecting students with support services, monitoring and reporting on retention and graduation rates for the college 
• Increased collaboration with Student Engagement to better understand and support our students from outside of Southeast Texas to increase their retention rates
• To better support our transfer students, we created a Transfer student advocate position in the UAC to be one point of contact for new transfer students to help them get answers to questions, find and get connected to their advisors and departments, and provide similar, personalized service (admitted to enrolled yield increased 1.5% since Spring 2018)
• A blog on the student success website to increase communication to the campus of data, progress toward goals, and support tips for students

What can you do to help us? 

Invest with us.  Be our partner in working collaboratively to review the data and discuss possible solutions and interventions.  Share real-time data with us by alerting advisors, coaches, and STAR Services of students you are concerned about.  This can be done by:

• Completing progress reports
• Providing information about students’ attendance and class participation
• Referring students in need to STAR Services (lamar.edu/stars)
• Referring students who can serve as tutors and success partners to STAR Services
• Helping us dispel myths with current and accurate data about our students and their performance

I want you to know that my door is always open. I am always happy to meet, talk, discuss data and findings, brainstorm new ideas, or just visit to develop a relationship. Don’t hesitate to reach out and work with us.