Automating Complete Withdrawals

1. Automating Complete Withdrawals Brian Lowery Associate Registrar for Operations University of Oregon blowery@uoregon.edu

2. Overview History Ownership Problems Project overview How it works Roadblocks Benefits “Gotchas” Possibilities w/ data Follow-up Questions

3. History CWD was a petitioning process Students had to have good reason Eventually, Academic Advising approved 100% Moved the CWD (Last Friday before finals) Currently online paperless process

4. Who owns the Complete Withdrawal process? • Academic Advising • Assist students with course work • Help students plan • Students unable to drop last class • Retention • Capturing all the data (were studentshonest about why they leave?) • Registrar processed 100’s of petitions

5. Academic Calendar & Deadlines Fall 2010 April 23 • Deadline to apply for fall reenrollment in order to register during the May 17-May 27 initial registration period May 17-May 27 • Initial registration for Fall 2010 June 28-August 4 • Fall registration is closed to continuing students; DuckWeb registration system reopens August 4 at 8am. September 20-23 • Fall registration is closed to continuing students; DuckWeb registration system reopens September 24 at 8am. September 21-26 • Week of Welcome; orientation activities September 24 • Financial aid disbursement begins • Undergraduates may enroll for more than 18 credits and GR students may enroll for more than 16 credits September 25 • Community Education Program (CEP) registration opens September 26 Last day to: • Process a complete drop and receive a 100% tuition refund (no ‘W’ recorded) September 27 • Fall classes begin October 1 • 1st tuition installment due (1/3 of assessed tuition, plus current and past-due balance) October 3 Last day to: • Process a complete drop to receive a 90% tuition refund (no ‘W’ recorded) • Reduce credits and receive 100% tuition refund (no ‘W’ recorded) October 4 Last day to: • Process a complete drop or reduce credits and receive 75% tuition refund (no ‘W’ recorded; after this date, ‘W’s’ are recorded for partial and complete withdrawals) October 6 Last day to: • Add a class/process initial registration • Change from audit to credit or credit to audit October 8 Last Day to • Apply for Fall 2010 graduate degrees (apply on the web at http://gradschool.uoregon.edu/?page=graduation) October 10 Last day to: • Process a complete withdrawal or reduce credits and receive a 75% tuition refund (mark of ‘W’ is recorded) October 17 Last day to: • Process a complete withdrawal or reduce credits and receive a 50% tuition refund (mark of ‘W’ is recorded) October 24 Last day to: • Process a complete withdrawal or reduce credits and receive a 25% tuition refund (mark of ‘W’ is recorded) • Apply for Fall 2010 undergraduate degrees in DuckWeb October 29 • Last day to submit doctoral final oral defense application to the Graduate School • Course offerings for Winter 2011 available November 1 • 2nd tuition installment due (1/3 of assessed tuition, plus current and past-due balance) November 5 • Deadline to apply for winter re-enrollment November 14 Last day to: • Drop a class (mark of ‘W’ recorded) • Change grade options (Graded or P/N) • Change variable credits November 15-24 • Initial registration for Winter 2011 November 19 Last day to: • Submit Masters Statement of Completion to the Graduate School • Hold final oral defense of doctoral dissertations November 25-26 • Thanksgiving holiday; classes are not in session November 24-December 6 • Online Course Evaluations for Fall 2010 open on DuckWeb November 30 Last day to: • Submit Doctoral/Masters theses and dissertations to the Graduate School • Submit Doctoral Certificates of Completion to the Graduate School December 1 • 3rd tuition installment due (1/3 of assessed tuition, plus current and past-due balance) December 5 Last day to: • Process a complete withdrawal from all courses December 6-10 • Final examinations December 14 (Tuesday, noon) • Deadline for instructors to submit Fall 2010 grades January 3, 2011 • Winter 2011 classes begin Last Day to CWD

6. The Problem • Number of withdrawals • Academic Advising met with each student, requiring time for both the student (who is on the way out the door) and the advisor • If AA is busy or not available before the student plans to leave, some said “forget it” and received grades of F, N, Y, or I, rather than W • At UO, complete withdrawals are allowed through week 10 (the week before finals)

7. Project For the Complete Withdrawal Project, the workgroup included: 3 from Academic Advising 3 from the Registrar 1 from Financial Aid 1 from Information Services (a programmer) Started August 2008 and went live June 2009

8. What does it look like?

9. This is what you have selected (and enter a last day of attendance if R2T4 financial aid applies):

10. Why are you withdrawing?

11. Warning!

12. Just in case…

13. Confirmation of Withdrawal

14. If only it were that simple! • Because of policies requiring some students to be full-time or consult with a particular office prior to leaving campus, about 10% of our students have an additional step to take. • They are: GTFs, International, Law, Honors College, Pathway Oregon, Athletes, TRiO: McNair/SSS, or have a Diversity Building Scholarship. • These are our “Roadblock students”… Or commonly know as… • Goats!

15. Roadblock Student Messages – and a paper form

16. Benefits • CWD is documented in Banner • Paperless process with few exceptions • The days where AA had to meet with each student are over – allows for re-focusing of resources. • Reduced refund petitioning • Students treated fairly/consistently

17. Benefits • Self-serve access 24 hours/day, 7 days/week • Documented “last day of attendance” for Financial Aid R2T4. • Collecting reasons why students are withdrawing from UO (self-assessment /retention)

18. The Gotchas! • Some students “accidentally” go through the complete withdrawal process, preventing them from re-registering until their record is reset • Time from Information Services personnel to answer questions and implement was more than anticipated • Hospitalized or incapacitated students cannot record their withdrawal • Learning and cross-training in the partner “Roadblock” offices

19. The Gotchas! • When to implement? We went live for summer term and experienced part of term problems with the varying lengths of courses. Ex: Multiple complete withdrawals during the summer were not possible. • In fall/winter/spring terms, we found that students who took a short course in the term had to petition each of their remaining courses if they left UO later in the term • More testing! • Fixes early in 2010 to Information Services

20. Academic Year

22. Follow-up Questions Do we lose more students as a result of automating this process? Academic Advising said that students had already made up their mind to leave UO by the time the meeting occurred, so automating this process did not eliminate a retention/advising opportunity We can learn from why students are leaving UO. Academic Advising is looking ahead to strategically retain students and proactively intervene … how?

23. Follow-up Questions What happens to UO students who completely withdraw? Come back to UO? Graduate from UO? Transfer to another institution? Are students on probation withdrawing to save themselves from disqualification? Not anymore…

24. Questions? Thanks for coming!