Monitoring is a crucial part of retention and needs to be a constant activity. My questions is, could there be too much monitoring. For example, let’s say an instructor makes a call to an absent student. That same day the program chair calls, then the Dean. At some point the student may receive three or four calls, emails, etc., is that too much?

Many students are adult learners, married with families, and who have after school jobs. These issues must be addressed with improving retention.

Our admissions department currently operates very effectively. The prospect is interviewed, taken on a tour of the facility, introduced to all of the directors, meets with the program director over their program of choice, and tested. They recieve follow up calls from the admissions staff and are scheduled for orientation. We could possibly improve our admissions process by asking more probative questions to gather more specific information from the prospect regarding their expectations of the school, of college studies, of goals and values.

Orientation is the first impression on how the students are treated and what the college requires from the student.

I had my questions about retention, but I didn't know how to form them into words to ask. This training has answered all of my questions. Now when I have a question, I know exactly how to form it to get the proper answer.

I am so happy for find out how to convince a student to stay in school. I often wondered why a student would quit school in the final day. Now I know. I hope this information helps me to save the future of an Academic Stagnation student.

As the course has stated, the retention efforts of a campus are not just the responsibility of the Retention Specialisty(as we call them) but of everyone on campus. I have some really great faculty members and Program Directors that do everything they can to make sure their students are in class while others don't seem to understand the importance of their involvment in keeping students in class. I've had several talks with the faculty, set the expectations many times, and there still seems to be a disconnect. As the faculty, they are the first line of defense. They know when a student is struggling before the rest of us do and they also know when a students may be having some personal issues before we do. I need them motivated to see how important they are in the retention process but I seem to be hitting a brick wall. Any advice?

I like to ask the question (what's in it for me? WIFM) and within the retention value stream there are multiple customers and suppliers that each have an interest in the outcome. I would suggest we define each group and try to understand what quality and delivery requirements each has and from their develop objective measures to measure our performance relative to those customer / supplier expectations. This might be a good starting point with regard to how we go foreward.

My school talks about retention all the time, but it never donned on me the importance of it until I took this class. I thought it was the job of the admission staff and financial aid staff. Boy was I wrong. Now I know I am suppose to ask questions about retention fixes. I like this class so far.

Many schools use social media to promote job announcements and interesting school news. another good use for social media is to cultivate a trusting environment where students believe the school has their best interest in mind. This can be accomplished by projecting foreseeable challenges caused by events like Holidays, changing seasons and family matters. An ideal message reads: As a student you will face moments of over whelm. We can help before it happens. And if it is happening now we can help you overcome the challenge. You success is our passion.

Orientation should have all the following information included in module but short and sweet and to the point...

When students come to me for advice about staying in school or dropping out of school to provide for their family? I have a hard time seeing them drop out of school.. I wish they was more help for our students....

As I prepared to study and complete the RT 101 course, I was inspired to share my thoughts on taking this course. Even though I did not think much of thses course in the past I am here to say I have a re-newed attitude. Before unlocking the course I kept thinking to myself, "get this done so I can knock it off my to do list". But in the spirit of learning more so I can do better, I suddenly decided; its time to go back to the basics. So I started this course by reading the entire introduction. Seriously, I read every page. Even thought the title is self explanatory, this time I refused to let my "know it all" ego have the last word. After reading the introduction, my excitement for this approach inspired this post. In the last course I took, I tried avoiding the post but it was required for completion. And I wonder why students unconsciously approach learning as I do. Wow! Anyway, this is my first of at least three post. All discussion post to follow will be topic specific. I just wanted to share an honest observation and revelation about my self. thank you, Tyrone Williams

I really enjoyed mod 1. The topic hit home. I thought I was monitoring correctly until now. I left out the f/u with a call portion. And, so I immediately called a few of my students to follow up and they were pleasantly surprised. I will continue to monitor better. I wasn't aware that students really appreciate a call from their instructor. I will start calling students when they are mia from now on. Thank you!!

What does your campus' techniques to reach external customers

Mystery shoppers help our company by giving an unseen sight into the customers point of view. Do you think mystery shoppers actually benefit your company?

Where do the FERPA rights of students restrict my gaining information? I don't want to ask for information about a student that they told to a counselor in confidence.

After many years of instruction, I have found that in order for my students to be successful, they have to overcome the fear of failure. Henry Ford said, "Failure is just an opportunity to start over more intelligently." I believe that many students quit because they are afraid of failure. When they realize that mistakes are not only acceptable but a necessary part of learning, they begin to feel more confident and less likely to feel inadequate in comparison to their peers.

How do I know where my responsibility for student retention ends and the students' own responsibility begins? Sometimes I feel like I am being pressured to assure success even at the cost of allowing my students to take ownership of their own learning. I don't feel like they will be successful in the real world if they don't learn to commit themselves to putting out their best effort, but I feel like am pressured to assure passing not necessarily learning.

What is the best way to bring awareness to the student of the pitfalls they may encounter in completing their program?