Student Retention

A Nationwide Problem

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, colleges lose an average of 25% of their first-year students every year. And the national six-year graduation rate average of 58% is cause for increasing alarm as student loan debt balloons past $1 trillion and defaults for non-graduates seem destined to increase.  Further, as organizations ranging from accrediting agencies to the U.S. Department of Education shift their focus away from access and incoming students and toward retention and graduation as key metrics, institutions will be increasingly forced to demonstrate improvement in retention and graduation outcomes or risk facing consequences that may include jeopardizing their ability to participate in the Title IV financial aid program.

But there are other, equally compelling reasons to address low retention and graduation rates. Poor retention causes huge inefficiencies for institutions and significant loss of income, momentum, and success.  Identifying, understanding and beginning to solve the retention issue can be a daunting task when institutions have limited internal resources and expertise to do so.  This makes finding the right partner to help identify and deliver solutions critically important.

A Comprehensive Approach Based on Your Needs

Blackboard’s robust end-to-end retention solutions are built on proven practices that empower colleges and universities to identify at-risk students, determine their most pressing retention priorities, and deploy proactive strategies to ensure persistence toward on-time graduation:

• Situation Analysis & Strategy Development – Assess institutional readiness, create a vision, and design conceptual framework for a retention solution
• High-Risk Segment Prioritization & Tactics –  Determine on which at-risk populations the institution should focus and how to positively impact them
• Intervention Implementation & Training – Build an implementation plan and train university staff to deploy intervention tactics

Our solutions are unique in the industry because they:

• Are ROI-focused
• Offer progressive levels spanning the full range of retention solutions, enabling institutions to select what they need depending on retention work already completed
• Are delivered by highly trained retention experts, refined best practices, and a strong focus on data and analytics

Contact Us to Learn More