Best College Student Retention Practices

the most common reason for dropping out of college is the lack of money to pay for tuition.

students that need to work to pay their way through college face busier and more demanding days. The inability to balance a job with studying causes many students to drop out. The long hours, or realizing they can make good money by going full time, erodes their will to carry on studying after hours.

students who have low social engagement with faculty and fellow students are more likely to drop out due to loneliness or being overwhelmed by campus life. Being alone and away from home also affects the psyche of students who have never left home or come from a family of close-knit kin and folks.

students with lower grades get discouraged and see no point in continuing with what they think is a fruitless endeavor. While most of these students could be encouraged by supportive faculty members like teachers and counselors, it can only work if the students know about, and seek out the support.

students are affected by life’s mishaps in their lives or in those that are close to them. They face insurmountable grief or can’t cope with the hardship of caring for ill family members while going to college at the same time.

the digital age has made it easy to find jobs that don’t require degrees, such as remote sales jobs or remote content writer jobs. There are people making millions by creating and sharing content on social media platforms, for example. Developers are creating apps that rake in just as much with code they have written from home. The advertisement of their success influences viewers, that include these students, into believing it is an easier way of making a successful living.

again, there are new professions that have been born with the digital age and that don’t need high qualifications. Today’s social media managers, drone pilots, and virtual assistants all earn healthy wages by working with gadgets, from home, and – in most cases – without a degree.

everyone has heard about how the likes of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg famously dropped out of Ivy League schools (in both their cases it was Harvard University) to create multi-billion dollar companies. While these few people are the exception, rather than the rule, their notability in the industry and their undeniable contribution to the tech world, have overshadowed the fact that only the extraordinary 20 percent of the richest millionaires and 10 percent of Forbes billionaires were college dropouts, according to a study performed on over 11,700 successful individuals across the United States.

if a student doesn’t know what comes after graduation, then their vision becomes limited. Not knowing the way forward – be it into a career or pursuing further qualifications – could discourage students from completing their studies. On the contrary, the opposite could give them a purpose to aim for and a goal to work for.

a good place to start is knowing what you are working with. You need to have a database that stores your incoming, outgoing, and dropout student information. This database will help show the size of the problem to deal with.

colleges need to connect with students from Day 1. An orientation program helps students get a sense of welcome, a knowledge that the college cares about them, and a sense of direction to help their sense of direction. That first day helps ease any anxiety they may have about their new environment.

students that are minorities, financially challenged or come from troubled backgrounds need all the help they can get. A college that helps alleviate any of their problems – no matter how little the help offered is – could encourage them enough to stick it out. Providing help and advice via college advisors is a great way to do this.

colleges should create a connection between students and faculty. You should let the students know about it, make faculty implement and encourage the policy, and encourage the students to reach out to counselors, professors, and any other authoritative body in case they face problems.

offering drop‐in and by‐appointment tutoring for all students that need help with their coursework ensures they don’t fall behind and, ultimately, quit college. These can also include tutoring services for tests and programs they may want to pursue after their post-secondary education, such as an MCAT tutor, graduate school essay tutor, or medical school admissions tutor.

what should the students aim for? Let them know what awaits them at the end of their college education. Perhaps, you can have alumni come talk to the students. They can see for themselves what an education at your college can result in.

use social media platforms for student engagement purposes. Create a dedicated portal where students can log in to share their thoughts and experiences. It is a good way to have an ear to the ground about what is going on. This is especially effective if they can leave anonymous tips, comments, or posts.

in case something does happen on campus, students need to have access to on-campus counseling. They need to have counselors they can turn to with their problems as soon as they face them and without having to go far. You can even take it one step further and encourage students to join support groups – consisting of their peers, faculty members, or even external professionals.

the students should also have their choice of clubs to join depending on their hobbies, passions, and talents. These sorts of get-togethers allow for students to meet other students with the same interests, as well as share their hobbies. That helps them “let off some steam,” meet other students, and develop their skills.

you should be asking what it is that is stopping your students from graduating or completing their courses. Although we have seen many reasons here, there can be a unique reason in your particular institution, for example, with the methods of lesson delivery, the curriculum or even the accessibility of facilities. You have the data for student enrollment and exit rates which you can use to break down into categories based on, for example, exit reviews where the students explain why they decided to leave your college. If one reason stands out with many of the students, you should take a deeper look into it.

once issues have been identified, steps should be taken to resolve them in the shortest possible time. Apart from helping the students, it shows that the school does indeed care about its students, and projects the academic professionalism of the college.