Degree Progress Information Overload for Advisers Frank Blalark, Director, Registrar's office...

Degree Progress

Information Overload for Advisers

Frank Blalark, Director, Registrar's office

Sue Van Voorhis, Director, Academic Support Resources

Background

Started with strategic planning 2007

Goal

Become one of the Top Three Public Research University in the World

Four ways - Exceptional students, faculty and staff, organization, innovation

Comparison group - The Ohio State, Penn State, UC - Berkeley, UC - Los Angeles, U of Florida, University of Illinois, U of Michigan, U of Texas-Austin, U of Washington-Seattle, U of Wisconsin-Madison

Regents Goal

Undergraduate students:60% Undergraduates graduate in 4 years

70% Undergraduates graduate in 5 years

80% Undergraduates graduate in 6 years

Graduate students:

Increase graduate graduation rates.

by spring 2012 - F08 NHS cohort

Rates graph

What needed to occur?

Transformation:

Transforming the Undergraduate Experience:

Strategic Positioning Initiatives

o Create Honors collegeo Increase writing curriculumo Enhance Student Support Services

Focus on outcomes:

• Learning outcomeso Created and implementation in progress

• Personal developmental outcomeso Responsibility, accountability, independence, goal

oriented, self-confident, resilient

• Council on Liberal Educationo Implemented

Guiding principles

• Focus is on students and their success

• An array of resources and learning opportunities that enable students to exercise responsibility for their learning and success

• The critical value and importance of diversity in guiding policies and strategies that promote student success at the University

• An undergraduate experience that is second to none and based on research and scholarship

Increase in:

• Number of applicants

• Size of the freshman class

• Quality of the freshman class

• Percent of entering students who are students of color

• Percent of freshmen in the top 10% of their high school class

• Percent of freshmen living on campus

• Percent satisfied or very satisfied with their university experience

Impact of change:

• University Honors - draw more top-ranked Minnesota students

• Cooperative admissions with professional schools - retention of students

• Welcome Week - more engaged

• Financial aid programs - afordability

• Increase research opportunities - retention

Additional positive factors:

Smart Learning Commons

Study Abroad

Student Study Space

CAPE (Center for Academic Planning & Exploration)

Residential Learning Communities

President's Emerging Scholars

Pathways to increasing rates:

Students will be better supported to meet

their educational goals and graduate in a

timely way, through:

• Improved advising services

• Better coordinated career services

• Targeted assistance for students in transition

• Better technological support for students and advisers (Grad Planner, Student Engagement Planner, Student Portal)

Policy changes

• Honors students

• Last term of registration

• Repeating courses

• Curriculum changes to a majoro Oversighto Timing of change

Educating the University

Set expectations for

Advisers, faculty, staff and students

• Impacts of not graduating in 4 years

o Financial aid is restricted - 6 years for Pello State programs are mostly tied to 4 yearso Longer they stay the more they brower

60% in 5 years versus 75% in 6 years (UMN) $24,000 versus $27,500 borrowed

o Reduce lifetime earnings the longer they stay

The Big Picture

ECAS Electronic Course Authorization System

• Create a new course

• Update a current course

• Approval workflow process o Instructoro Collegeo Liberal Educationo Graduate Schoolo Catalog Edito CCEo PeopleSoft entry

ECAS

PCAS

Program and Curriculum Approval System

• Comprehensive database of all the requirements needed to complete each degree program

• Approval system the route changes or new programs to approvers

• Used for the Graduation Planner

PCAS: Sample Plans

PCAS: Checkpoint Charts

PCAS: Checkpoint Charts

APLUS

• Gives advisers one location to view current, detailed information about a student

• Enable more timely communication with students and faster resolution of issues

• Ensure that pertinent information about a student, including advising notes, follows the student across the campus

APLUS

Graduation Planner

Giving students and advisers the information they need to plan for timely graduation.

Bring together everything about:

Students

Programs and majors

Courses

Graduation Planner

Curriculum

Three buckets:

Liberal Education requirements 35 credits

Major requirements

Electives

Electives toward the degree

Excess Electives

**Double dipping of courses

Curriculum (catalog)

How many credits to earn a degree - 120?

• 91.5% of undergraduate programs require 120 credits for degree completion

• 8.5% of undergraduate programs require more o range: 122 - 129 creditso max 129 credits

2005-06 Average Total Credits at Time of Graduation

Actual credits

Degree Audit

Average degree progress after 3 years

ReportingFocus

• 4-year graduation rateo New high school o First-time full-time

• Administrative barriers to degree completiono deadlines, internal business processes, system

errors, etc.

• Students who haven't by should have:o applied to graduate; and/oro graduated

ReportingData

• Graduation rate cohort datao Grad rate cohort (year and student ID's)

• SIS datao college, major, etc.

• Degree audit datao degree progress percentage complete

Report

• MS excel format

• Sent to collegiate contacts 3 times per year

Analysis

Results from Office of the Registrar data analysis, reports, and communication with collegiate units.

• OTR direct impact on 4-year grad rateso 2006 - 0.39% increaseo 2007 - 1.10% increaseo 2008 - 0.67% increase

Analysis

Analysis

Notable findings:• Artificially suppressed graduation rates

o missed application deadlineso student applied to graduate for the wrong termo student was not sure whether or not they wanted to

graduate

• Policy impactso Changes to backdating degree practiceso University Honors program practices

impact of thesis completion requirement

• Increase in collegiate engagement

NAS Data Demand!

New demand for NAS data

• number of transfers by college

• average number of transfer credits by college

• status by year (total, active, complete, discontinue, leave of absence)

AnalysisFaster not more!

• 2000 - 2007: 21.4% increase in 4-year graduation rate

• However...o 4-year graduation rate increasing faster than 5-

and 6-year graduation rateo relatively small increases in graduation rate post

6-yearso relatively small increases in total number of

degrees produced compared to total number of undergraduate students.

A Complex System...

Results:

Next Steps

• Hit 60% for 4 year rate in 2013

• Analyze the 42% that didn't graduate in 4 years

• Research and increase 6 year rate

• Investigate degree completion totals

• Formalize curriculum committee

• Increase transfer student graduation rates

Questions?

Frank Blalark – blala001@umn.edu

Sue Van Voorhis – vanvo002@umn.edu