Presenters:

Yumi Takahashi-EdeAcademic Advisor in the College of Arts & Sciences

Halbert BatesDirector of Recruitment & Retention in the Haworth College

of Business

Western Michigan University

2011 NACADA Annual ConferenceCODE 435

Attendance Initiative & Retention Efforts at Western Michigan University

1. Descriptions of Attendance Initiative and Early Alert System

2. Reaching out to our students 3. Retention rates at Western

Michigan University (WMU)4. Findings for the past two academic

years (2009-2010 and 2010-2011)5. Future plans

Purpose Increased effort to contact students who are

not attending a class regularly

To track the effort made to contact and the success of contact with students reported

Goals To make our students feel that we care about

them as an individual and about their academic success at WMU

To promote more personal and closer relationships between students and the university community

To improve our retention rates

To improve academic outcomes

Purpose To reach out to all new degree-seeking

students (new beginners and transfers) with at least one midterm grade below a 'C' or who have been reported as not attending at least one course 

Goal To assist students reported at the early

stage of the semester

Attendance Initiative

Review their current schedules

Contact reported students by email or phone

Check their files in the office to see if they have come in

Contact them multiple times if necessary

Early Alert Report & Midterm Grade Report

Contact reported students by email or phone 

Strongly encourage them to come in to meet with an advisor

Offer resources and support available on campus

Probationary Email (Four Phases) 

1) Beginning of the semesterInitial email contact to students who are on academic probation

2) Middle of the semesterReminder email contact to those who have not come in to see an advisor

3) Before the last day to withdraw from courses

Another reminder email to those who have not come in to see an advisor

4) End of the semesterFinal reminder email to those who have not yet to come in

Haworth College of Business

Sending out letters to students who are reported as not attending class

University wide retention rateFirst to second year retention rates for first-

time, full-time, degree seeking freshmen (FTIAC)

Head Count Univ. Wide Head Count

Univ. Wide Percent

Fall 2010 3,163 (Fall 2009 Head

Count)

2,404 76.0%

Fall 2009 3,806 (Fall 2008 Head

Count)

2,756 72.4%

College of Arts & SciencesFirst to second year retention rates for first-time,

full-time, degree seeking freshmen (FTIAC)

Head Count

Univ. Wide Count

Univ. Wide

Percent

College Specific

Head Count

College Specific Percent

Transfer in from Other

College

Original and

Transfer-in

Subtotal

Net Change

Fall 2010

698 (Fall 2009

Head Count)

515 73.8% 453 64.9% 135 588 -110

Fall 2009

705 (Fall 2008

Head Count)

498 70.5% 424 60.1% 232 656 -49

Haworth College of BusinessFirst to second year retention rates for first-time,

full-time, degree seeking freshmen (FTIAC)

Head Count

Univ. Wide Count

Univ. Wide

Percent

College Specific

Head Count

College Specific Percent

Transfer in from Other

College

Original and

Transfer-in

Subtotal

Net Change

Fall 2010

466(Fall 2009

Head Count)

341 73.2% 297 63.7% 88 385 -81

Fall 2009

593 (Fall 2008

Head Count)

441 74.4% 377 63.6% 145 522 -71

Fall 2009 through Summer II 2010Students in CAS

Total Number of Students Reported

453 FR 105 (23%)

SO 102 (23%)

JR 140 (31%)

SR 106 (23%)

Students eligible to return to Fall 2010

373 (82%) FR 64 (61%)

SO 84 (82%)

JR 123 (88%)

SO 102 (96%)

Students retained to Fall 2010

243 (65%) FR 34 (53%)

SO 62 (73%)

JR 88 (72%)

SO 60 (59%)

Fall 2010 through Summer II 2011Students in CAS

Total Number of Students Reported

427 FR 78 (18%)

SO 99 (23%)

JR 100 (23%)

SR 150 (35%)

Students eligible to return to Fall 2011

362 (85%) FR 56 (72%)

SO 75 (76%)

JR 88 (88%)

SO 143 (95%)

Students retained to Fall 2011

247 (68%) FR 24 (43%)

SO 62 (83%)

JR 65 (74%)

SO 96 (67%)

Positive Findings: Compared to the academic year of 2009-

2010, Total number of students reported as not-

attending class decreased in the academic year of 2010-2011 (453 427)

Freshmen reported as not-attending class also decreased in 2010-2011 (23% 18%)

Percentage of students eligible to return to WMU in the following academic year was improved (82% 85%)

Percentage of Freshmen eligible to return to WMU in their Sophomore year was also improved (61% 72%)

Positive Findings: Compared to the academic year of 2009-

2010, Overall retention rates to the following

academic year went up in 2010-2011 (65% 68%)

Retention rates of all class standing except Freshmen also went up in 2010-2011.

Sophomore: 73% 83% Juniors: 72% 74% Seniors: 59% 67% (Number includes

students who graduated during these academic years)

Areas need to be improved: Number of Juniors reported in 2009-2010

and number of Seniors reported in 2010-2011 are higher compared to other classes.

Juniors in 2009-2010: 31% Seniors in 2010-2011: 35%

Percentage of Freshmen eligible to return to WMU in the following academic year is still low compared to other classes.

Academic year of 2009-2010: 61% (out of those FRs reported as not-attending)

Academic year of 2010-2011: 72%

Areas need to be improved: Retention rates of Freshmen

decreased significantly from 2009-2010 to 2010-2011. (53% 43%)

Both retention rates of Freshmen rates are very low. Academic year of 2009-2010: 53% (out

of those FRs eligible to return to WMU) Academic year of 2010-2011: 43%

Fall 2010 through Summer II 2011

3802 students started in Fall 2010 in HCOB

Number of students reported as not-attending

343 Students eligible to return to Fall 2011

89%

Students enrolled in Fall 2011

65%

Improve retention rates by continuing Attendance Initiative and Early Alert Reports

Increase touch points by advisors and faculty with students 

Reach out to Sophomores and Juniors

Collect more data

Work on the Retention Initiative assessment