Our admissions staff call all students who have missed in the first week. Even though the students are ready to progress into academics by our standards, some take a little longer to move away rom their admissions reps and onto academic staff. By having admissions call in the first week, we know they are hearing a familiar voice on the phone. We also have instructors call that first week to help the students realize the academic staff is as concerned about their success as the admissions staff is.
In our school the Admissions department call the students, also, we send Assistance warning letters. These letters are sent from the Academic-Registrar department, I think it is the more appropriate since it generates Retention reports.
I bet! Having a call from the 'top dog' is always impressive and says a lot about the level of caring. Congrats!
We run a small school, so the Executive Director is the person who makes the calls during the first week of school. Most students are pleasantly surprised to have the personal contact!
At our school the admissions rep calls students during the first week if they enrolled but failed to attend.
Sometimes that is all it takes. Their Admissions representative is their lifeline in many instances. A call from a 'friend' can help to eliminate some of the fear and frustration---even if all they do is refer them to the appropriate person or department. A side benefit can be requesting referrals as well!
Susan
Having admissions call students during the first week of class is a very interesting idea, it is important for students to acclimate and become familiar with other staff members. In our school student services would contact students once they have matriculated into the program in regards to rentention, but I believe retention is the responsiblity of the entire faculty. Students typically have a developed relationship with admissions and may feel "out of sorts" the first week (however having a successful orientation) should appease those feelings, but a follow up call from admissions can only help students through the transition.
Actually...the more people that can reach out to students, especially early in the process, the better. It should be coordinated, however. You don't want ten people calling 5 minutes apart!
Faculty is an excellent resource for this and it makes sense since they will be the major point of retention going forward.
Susan
Depending upon your student population, it is nice if a faculty member calls those that are absent the first week also.
Whomever is ultimately responsible for retention should be in charge of contacting students (whether they do it or delegate)...at many institutions this is the faculty member or Director of Education. I like the idea of the Executive Director being involved as well. That sends a very clear message that you are serious about retaining students.
Susan
We do not call new students during their first week of classes, although I agree that it is a good idea to do so. I will definitely recommend that we start this practice.
Who calls the students when they start missing classes? At our college, the Registrar tracks absenteeism and calls the students. Depending on the student's response, she may contact the Executive Director. He then gets in touch with the student, or has the Director of Education do so, to assist them further with their needs or concerns.
No Michael we are not but I do agree with you. Our instructors always call students who miss class but the first week should be done by admissions since the student already has developed a repoire with them.
