Charles Polk
President & CEO
Mountain State University
Retention seems a simple concept. Even a noble endeavor. But have you considered what Charles Polk is thinking about?
Is retention an honorable goal on its own, or is it perhaps short-sighted?
Retention is an honorable goal for both the student and the school. However, we are also in danger of short-selling both the student and the school at admission. We put too little effort into identifying at-risk applicants who may not belong in college. We provide too little guidance or intervention in their choices. For example, many youthful applicants' choices of major and career are often unrealistic or unmatched by their high school preparation.
What might be a better goal than retention?
Last year the ACT News reported that retention was at a 25-year low, costing American campuses $4 billion. With that in mind, we'd probably be more productive tracking and stimulating our high achievers. Productivity would be even more likely if we devoted significant attention to full-pay students, because the taxpayer is not at risk.
Do you think some college applicants should have more 'skin in the game?'
'Skin' can be manifest by money or serious effort or both. Schools with open admissions cannot set high standards for either. They are pretty much in an entitlement business. All other campuses are paying a cost that's resulting from widespread inexpensive higher education. If I were to visit a Las Vegas casino where the chips are provided for free, it would be very easy for me to leave the table at any time. It would also make it difficult for the other casinos in town to prosper.
Can you suggest a scenario where a student with skin in the game might actually drop out for his own betterment?
Life happens. It's easy for any student today, youthful or adult, to run into serious financial difficulties. If he or she hangs in there too long, he'll watch his grades suffer and his financial situation worsen. For some such students there's probably an ideal time to take a breather and solve the problems. Frankly, we don't do that kind of intervention very well. We may in fact be worsening the casualties. That's when the retention effort becomes dishonorable.
What key indicators at admission will be predictive of a likely four-year graduation?
We need well-qualified highly motivated applicants. We also need admissions staff with tools and screening abilities to identify them. Meanwhile, Bill Gates probably met very high standards at admission time. He never graduated. Should he have been 'retained?'
What might differentiate an adult applicant from a high school student applicant?
Reliable predictors are evident in an adult's age and life experience. Most adults have dealt with personal struggles and overcome them sufficiently to know what it will take to become successful. Once they've chosen to achieve sucess via a baccalaureate degree, their future college graduation has significant likelihood. When Joe Namath applied for re-admission to the University of Alabama 42 years after dropping out, the admissions office could certainly have predicted his degree completion with great accuracy.
What's wrong with today's IPEDS graduate rate calculation?
It's a sore thumb in our industry. First, it focuses on an 18-year-old starting college for the first time, attending full-time, and graduating four years later. That age group is a shrinking percentage of U.S. college enrollment. Second, it assumes that all 5,000-plus U.S. campuses have exactly the same goals and provide the same services. And then it penalizes some of those campuses for preparing people for other campuses.
Give an example of how IPEDS penalizes your school.
In 2009-10 our total enrollment was nearly 8,000, and last June we graduated 1,150 students. However, we don't look very good for it, because only a small percentage of them were first-time full-time students.
Is the IPEDS calculation driving today's emphasis on retention?
Probably.
Is the emphasis on retention likely to shift focus toward or away from degree completion?
I expect the retention attention will emphasize degree completion. That emphasis will cause schools to recruit more adults.
Is there something better to measure than retention?
Probably. How about customer satisfaction?