Orientation and Mentoring a student are a great way to help a student. This gives them more self confidence.

Knowing alittle bit of the potential students back-ground is a little key in helping them succeed.

Often times students don't understand the material and won't involve themselves in class discussions to further understand the material...how could we keep students engaged in the classroom?

The retention is a all hands aspect it is never just one department, everyone is involved in retention. Dr. Reed

Most students that enter our campus are looking for life change and career change not just a chance to go to school. Therefor helping them all the way through to the finishline even before they get there is key to elevating their positive attitude and winningness to complete. Knowing that we are encouraging a career and not just job placemetn is huge, this can make or break retaining the student.

We have recently added a student work program on campus and I believe that this will help for some to feel better attached to the programs and ideas that are running on campus. i like the idea of having a student committe that can help with graduation planning or student events, as they know better what the students are looking for. Possibly even having a meeting monthly for students to come and discuss planning of upcoming events would be a great way to keep them involved and excited about being on campus even with their busy schedules!

mentoring has a huge impact. Not only is peer appreciation and understanding one of the well lit areas of adult education but it has been proven with programs in high schools and middle schools for years. In the adult education profile, students realizing that they are not alone is so important for their success, both in school but for their networking possibilites after school. Having another on your side when the times get rough or being able to ask for guidance when their pride is high is huge. Implementation may take some time to develop at our college however I think that the students that learn together and with one another are stronger and feel more empowered!

To listen!! I think it is very important in the roll of the admissions counselor to listen what the potential student is truly looking for. Making sure that the program is the right fit and not being afraid to spend the extra time to determine that this is the case. It is better to have the right program for the right student than to have the wrong program and lead to loss of the student and another failure in their eyes.

I've often found it difficult to create a helpful atmosphere when I'm constantly having to to be a "sheriff." My attempts at being helpful can, I'm afraid, come across as hassling(calling students to remind them of due dates, inquiring as to missed classes, etc). Any tips for finding balance?

It's difficult to fully understand the stresses associated with urban students, who are involved in legal trouble, custody battles, and issues that I personally don't have experience with. What's the best way to guide these students?

I agree that retention starts at the admissions level. If you admit at-risk students in an attempt to increase enrollment(at the behest of the stockholders), retention rates will plummet.

Make sure you set a common goal that everyone understands for your company. This will ensure that your institution will be successful.

Positivity is the key in the lock. If you can lead by a positive example, you and your students will be successful.

You Habits, Attitude, Expectations, and Beliefs are formed when you are five years old. It is important to recognize this and see how you and the students can be limiting your potential.

Model, Mentor, and Monitor are the three steps to student success. Take time out of your day and get to know your students because attention equals retention!

I work at an audio school, I am seeing a large number of students that are only interested in working in electronic music even though our curriculum covers a lot more of audio production than this. I have found it a challenge trying to keep some of these students interested because they feel they are never going to use this knowledge after they graduate, even though a lot of it can and should be used. In your experience and in the terms of retention to make sure these students are able to complete the schools requirements to graduate. What steps would you say would be important to generate interest in learning the stuff they aren't interested in?

Instructors must listen and watch our students to know there learning skills. We have so many different types of learning skills and we must adjust to each one differently. When the students see that we can comunicate with there style of learning then they want to be in class to see what else we can teach them.

The burgeoning of the number of career colleges throughout the U.S., has created competition between the private colleges/universities, public colleges/universities, and virtually every post secondary institution in the country. This is not a bad thing, because it opens the door wider for opportunity to the traditional and non-traditional student. Virtually all of these institutions have different policies and procedures. In addition many of them rely on the student's ability to get federal funding, or scholarship monies. To acquire and keep these students interested, and within the institution's walls is more than a full time job. Faculty, staff and the students themselves must feel the institution offers exactly what they need, in order to succeed. The Career College, in many cases, offers a valuable variety of courses. In doing so, career colleges provide a choice not offered by many four schools. From Certificates to Degrees the Career College provides differentiation of the classes offered versus the Community College, or four year college/university. Using these differences in classes, and providing the resourses discussed earlier, help to maintain and attract the non-traditional student, and the students that are seeking skill development versus disciplines such as marketing, biology, etc. But the most important issue is keeping the student interested, active and providing a learning environment, in which the student gets a return for his/her investment of time and capital.

It is difficult to be able to know when a student needs intervention, unless he/she comes to tell you about his/her problem(s). Each problem must have a discreet set of circumstances, and solutions. To counsel effectively, the instructor must be able to understand the sequence, and the gravity of the situations. For instance, if the rent is due tomorrow, and the student needs money to pay the rent, coming to you the day before levaves little time for the instructor to take action. In order for the student to solve his/her problems, time must be alloted for planning, resources acquisition, and most importantly, contact with the entity that is owed the outstanding rent. Using the survey first, then the verticle method of obtaining information will help to satisfy the instructor's understanding of how dire the situation is. It would be of value to offer services at the beginning of the course, indicating that the services are valuable and can be used or sought when needed. Above all, the instructor cannot make promises that cannot be kept, nor can he/she go against policy.

There are two types of stress: eustress-or good stress, when the student anticipates a positeve event; or the stress we are mostly familiar with the strain of dealimg with problems that are difficult to overcome. For most students we are concerned with the stresses that arise from attending college and personal stress, the inability to pay the rent, or some other such problem, which is not easily rectifiable. Solving the "problem" stress and the issues that it causes, can be unmanageable. Dealing with positve stress, is much easier of course, allowing the individual a number of different, choices resulting in a positive outcome. The stress involved with "strain" on the individual's life, can cause an erosive personality disorder, or other problems affecting the student's performance.