One thing I believe always helps with retention is being able to provide students with a sense of belonging in their chosen school. In High School, students have a strong sense of ownership and belonging. The schools have school colors. There are school sports teams. Clubs and other organizations provide students with a way to represent their school, and feel that they are represented by their school. Most public or "land-grant" universities have fraternities and sororities. They have sports teams which compete nationwide and provide the students with an opportunity to show pride in their school at sporting events, or fraternity/sorority meetings. Unfortunately, with most private colleges it is very difficult to take advantage of these types of opportunities. Private colleges don't have dormatories or fraternities/sororities. These types of schools don't have the ability to sponsor sports teams on the scale that public universities do. Private colleges are typically focused solely on the education they provide. This is not a bad thing, as these schools understand that the students who attend private colleges are typically there for that very reason. These students are not usually there for sports or fraternities. They are there to get through school, graduate, get the degree, and begin their careers. However, if a private college can determine a way to create a similar sense of pride, and a sense of belonging in the culture of the college, then this could go a long way in improving the retention of the school's students. Stephen Lee Campbell