How One University is Making Measurable Strides in Student Retention

[MarisaBluestone]

Student attrition is an unfortunate reality for many universities. For students, that can mean accumulating debt, but without the added income that a degree can bring to their lifetime earnings. For colleges, it can harm their ability to support students who need support the most -- including first generation students. This is a significant concern for many colleges, as more than one million students drop out of college every year.  

So what’s a college to do to help support students' ability to persist and ultimately retain the students so that they complete their degree? Rochester University, an open enrollment liberal arts institution, asked that very question. To answer it, they created new programs to support student success initiatives and better retain their students. 

For the last decade, first-time student retention at Rochester University has remained in the low to mid-60s.The university has set a goal of increasing retention by 7%. To increase the impact of the university’s student success efforts, Rochester implemented tools from Pharos Resources and iClicker Insights by Macmillan Learning to better understand the challenges students faced and how to support their needs.

Although Rochester University is still in the early stages of integrating their use of Pharos and iClicker Insights, they have already experienced positive results. Fall 2021 to Spring 2022, persistence/retention for first year college students was 81.88%, a 3.3% increase over the prior year.

To learn more about what the university discovered, and how they implemented the insights, download the free white paper.