Strategic Enrollment Development

1. Strategic Enrollment Development Strategic Goal 1: Enrollment Strategic Goal 3: Program Development Enrollment Team Meeting September 2, 2014

2. 3553 NUMBER OF STUDENTS Actual Projected 3486 3409 Enrollment decline 2013-2014 due to NCLEX issues in Nursing, rapid graduation of grad students and failure to replace at same rate, and ongoing stagnation of retention rate @ 70% y-y – all fixable 3153 3005 2859 2664 2714 2555 2506 2350 2305 2034 1736 1637 1640 1659 1645 1605 1618 1327

3. HEADCOUNTS 1900 TO 2013 Enrollment fluctuations are part of the normal history of Trinity’s enrollment patterns. The most important issue is how quickly we can recover from the downturn in 2013-2015.

4. Strategic Enrollment Development depends on two fundamental tactics:1. Strategic Program Initiatives aligned with new markets to attract new enrollments in sufficient volume to meet goals2. Retention Management focused on proven tactics --- rooted in good research and sound data analysis --- to foster significant improvement in persistence and completion

7. On the columns above, the dark purple is the completion rate at Trinity, the light purple is still enrolled at Trinity, the blues are completed or still enrolled at other institutions, and the red line and number is the “success rate.” The cohorts that began in 2006-2007-2008 have largely finished degrees by now. The cohorts for 2009-2010-2011 are mostly still in school. Above the line, the columns show attrition because of money (green) or academic reasons.

8. Project Completion • Goal: to improve retention, persistence and degree attainment at Trinity for all student populations at all degree levels (metrics under development) (This is all part of our Middle States Self-Study and also supports Goal #1 of the Strategic Plan) • Objectives: • Create and maintain a comprehensive analysis of degree attainment (“success rate”), continuing enrollment and stop-out patterns at Trinity and elsewhere to present a comprehensive picture of what happens to students who enroll at Trinity at some point in their academic careers • Identify barriers to student retention and persistence that serve to discourage, delay and prevent degree attainment • Create a pro-active student retention management system that prioritizes actions to encourage students to stay in school while reducing costs and bureaucratic burdens • Provide assessment data and action plans for that part of the Middle States Self-Study addressing enrollment and completion issues

9. Barriers to Retention and Persistence Typical risk factors for attrition include financial hardship, poor academic preparation, health and family issues. But some students are able to overcome those issues while others do not. A deeper analysis of retention issues identifies factors within Trinity’s control that often become the “last straw” for students who are coping with multiple risk factors. Reducing these “barriers to retention and persistence” will contribute to an improvement in retention, persistence and completion: • Curriculum Design Issues • Policies and Advising Interpretations • Program and Pedagogical Issues • Student Engagement Opportunities • Administrative Behaviors

10. Curriculum Design Issues • Is the developmental learning program a springboard for success or a barrier that forces students out? • How much time and money must students devote to developmental skills-building courses before they are “allowed” to engage in more substantive courses? • How much content do CAS first year students receive in their course schedules? • Why are critical reading and writing skills not embedded in content courses? • Is General Education a true platform for engagement in learning, or does it seem like a set of requirements that fails to make sense to students? • Are there traditional requirements that need reconsideration in the modern age? Why do we require certain kinds of courses beyond tradition? • Are there new disciplines and new areas of learning that might supplant the older models? • How much time and money does General Education demand of our students and can we justify the investments? • At a time when the liberal arts are under fire for relevance and efficiency, can we consider our model and fine tune the requirements and expected outcomes to demonstrate the true value of liberal learning in relation to necessary lifelong professional outcomes? • Should Trinity reconsider the 128 credits required for graduation? 120 credits is the norm. • These are frequently the issues that beg the question Is College Worth It? How can Trinity respond in a more innovative and standard-setting way to this fundamental public challenge?

11. Policies and Advising Interpretations • Limitations on the number of credit hours CAS students are allowed to take elongates time to degree and adds considerable cost • If a student may only take 12 credit hours she will require at least 5.5 years to complete 128 credits, hence, a “four year degree” becomes impossible • The extra 1.5 years = $50,000 on the total cost of attendance PLUS lost wages • CAS full-time tuition pays for up to 18 credits per semester, hence, a 12-credit cap means a student loses $4100 of credit value per semester, or $8200 of credit value per year • Elongating time to degree leads to attrition, defaults, poor completion rates, reputational risk • How can we accelerate student progress toward degrees while addressing the learning issues that cause the credit limitations? • Do we really know that credit limits actually improve student performance? What data do we have to prove this?

12. Policies and Advising Interpretations • Transfer Credit Policy: align more carefully with residency requirement so that students do not transfer more credits than what counts; align what’s accepted with fulfillment of Trinity requirements • Academic Probation and Satisfactory Academic Progress: Create a seamless case management process that is clearer and more understandable to the student and staff alike, reduce bureaucracy and provide a simpler and more effective route to academic support in the process • Unlimited course withdrawals: undermine the need for persistence in learning, add expense and debt burden, create the wrong impression about how to handle academic challenges

13. Programs and Pedagogy • Confusing, inconsistent and misleading requirements for graduation across major programs; need to have consistency in grading policies, number of credits required in majors, and similar requirements • Improve alignment of majors with expected professional outcomes: even in the liberal arts students must know how their major will track into a career field • Pedagogy: weak or inappropriate use of technology tools and Moodle represses the opportunity that technology presents to improve student learning through more engaging pedagogy, as well as the use of hybrid formats to accelerate courses and programs

14. Administrative Behaviors • First Year Attendance: ESSENTIAL! Faculty who teach in the first year MUST take attendance and record in Moodle. This is an essential tool for retention managementsupported by national research on first year experience. • Bureaucracy Abounds: Advisors, Administrative Offices must be open and accessible to students; NO student should be sent away with an instruction to “make an appointment” when she needs help right away • Student Computer Literacy: stop making assumptions and make sure that students know what we’re talking about when we refer them to a computer screen • Websites: all administrative websites need upgrading to provide more useful, friendly information for students

15. Elements of Effective Retention Management • Data and Analysis: Understanding retention factors and attrition factors: • Why do some students persist while others stop out? What kind of data do we have comparing the two groups? • We have a great deal of data on attrition factors but what do we have on retention factors? • Paying Attention to Mid-Range Students: We give a great deal of attention to at-risk students, and some attention to Honors Students. What happens to the great mass of students in the middle? • Engagement Opportunities: Evidence throughout higher education indicates that students who are engaged early and often tend to persist. What strategies do we have to ensure effective student engagement at every grade level across all units? • Value for Investment of Money and Time: How effectively do we communicate the value of the investment of student money and time? Do we show students the return on the investment of staying in school and progressing toward the degree? How well do our students understand this concept? • Cohort Model: we are seeing some success with Conways. We see less success with DC Achievers because we really did not treat them as a cohort. What will we do with Dreamers, Shannon, etc.? Can we create other cohort models? Wasn’t this the original intent of learning communities? Can cohorts work for other academic units?

16. Next Steps As of 9 2 2014: • Develop the cohort concepts for each unit and grade level • Identify ways to engage students in discussion of what would help them to stay enrolled • Develop a method to collect data and to assess why some students persist when similarly situated students attrit • Improve the leverage potential of Trinity traditions to create more group identity (eg, class colors, pins, rings, etc.) and use these moments to build engagement and retention opportunities • Develop a script for ways to talk about the value of staying enrolled versus the economic, social and emotional setbacks that can come from dropping out • Consider how to present a comprehensive plan and cost analysis for the entire academic program of a student so that she can see how it would work if she stayed enrolled continuously through the degree