{"id":25310,"date":"2010-11-29T08:25:19","date_gmt":"2010-11-29T13:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=25310"},"modified":"2011-05-31T12:41:38","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T16:41:38","slug":"arrivals-and-departures-uconn-excels-at-retaining-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/11\/arrivals-and-departures-uconn-excels-at-retaining-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Arrivals and Departures: UConn Excels at Retaining Students"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Leo<\/a>
Leo Lachut, a counselor with Student Support Services, advises Melody Bennet, a senior biology and sociology major, about her classes next semester. Photo by Jessica Tommaselli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

UConn works hard to attract excellent students. But the University administration\u2019s work isn\u2019t over once a student enrolls and starts classes \u2013 it\u2019s only beginning.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t accept students and then tell them they\u2019re on their own for the next four years,\u201d says Lee Melvin, UConn\u2019s vice president for enrollment management and planning. \u201cOnce students are here, the University wants to do everything we can to help guide them toward timely graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Universities, including UConn, keep careful track of what are known as \u201cretention rates\u201d \u2013 simply, how many students return after each year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something we are very aware of, approach in a structured manner, and invest a lot of resources in,\u201d says Melvin. \u201cWe complement our fine academic programs and excellent faculty with a strong cadre of academic enrichment and support programs, as well as a nationally-recognized Retention & Graduation Task Force that meets regularly throughout the year to discuss issues and provide recommendations to senior administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to us as an institution that our students become acclimated and comfortable on campus and in class so they can succeed,\u201d Melvin adds. \u201cHaving a high rate of retention reflects well on a university and its students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every university has a natural rate of attrition: the majority of students come back after the first year, and that number gradually falls as the second, third, and fourth year pass.<\/p>\n

UConn\u2019s numbers are among the best for public universities nationally: the one-year retention rate (incoming freshmen who come back after their first year) is at 93 percent in the most recent data, well above the current national average of 79 percent. The two-year retention is at 88 percent , which is up from 80 percent in 2000; the three-year is 85 percent , up from 78 percent 10 years ago.<\/p>\n

UConn\u2019s most recent four and five-year graduation rates are 68 percent and 79 percent, respectively, while the national averages are 48 percent and 53 percent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very pleased with our numbers,\u201d says Melvin. \u201cWe have been quite intentional in promoting a campus climate in which students expect and strive to \u2018Finish in Four.\u2019 But our work is not done. You always want to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that is where retention and graduation efforts come in. They begin during the orientation sessions over the summer and when students first arrive. These sessions are specifically designed to familiarize students with the campus, its amenities, and the flow of life in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe better prepared a student is, the faster he or she is going to be integrated into university life,\u201d says Maria Sedotti, who heads UConn\u2019s orientation program. \u201cWhat we want to do is to provide an easy transition for new UConn students.\u201d<\/p>\n

These efforts also include the \u201cWeek of Welcome\u201d and the First Year Experience courses the University began offering several years ago, which are designed for freshmen. Also critical are the various learning communities connected to the residence halls, where the vast majority of UConn students live.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re comfortable or happy in your environment, the odds are you\u2019re going to want to stay there,\u201d says Melvin.<\/p>\n

But retention is hardly one-size-fits-all. As the University wends its way through the mountain of data it collects, patterns begin to develop, and understanding them is a key to ensuring retention rates are high.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are historical trends that we watch among students who leave the University,\u201d says Melvin.<\/p>\n

For example, he says, out-of-state students are more likely to leave than those from in-state, and retention rates are higher for white and Asian students than for African-American or Latino students.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing that, we\u2019re able to target our efforts more precisely,\u201d says Melvin. He says the cultural centers play a vital role in helping underrepresented student populations navigate their way through the University. This falls under the umbrella of mentoring, which \u2013 in its many forms \u2013 is a key component in overall retention efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo a great extent, retention becomes more personal,\u201d says Melvin. \u201cIf we have international students from, say, Korea, we might ask an upperclassman who is also Korean to work with them when those students arrive on campus. If we have a female freshman from California, having another female Californian who knows the campus taking her under her wing is often beneficial. It\u2019s about establishing connections between people.\u201d<\/p>\n

National research and survey data shows that students who are active on campus whether through social activities, service organizations, or athletics are more likely to remain in school and make greater progress toward their degree.<\/p>\n

Another population the University focuses on is low-income students who are the first in their families to go to college; these students work with the Center for Academic Programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe often depend on other people to get our bearings when we do something new,\u201d says Maria D. Martinez, who heads the Center. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to college and have parents or older siblings who went before you, you can talk to them about it and get a sense of what life will be like on campus. But if you don\u2019t have that, beginning college may be more jarring. We work with these students specifically to get them acclimated and help them succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The data the University collects also shows why students choose UConn \u2013 and why some leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know students generally choose UConn because we are seen as a top-notch school with outstanding faculty that is also a great value,\u201d says Melvin. \u201cStudents see their UConn education and experience as giving them what they need to compete for jobs or go on to graduate school after they complete their bachelor\u2019s degree. They rightfully have high expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, UConn gathers feedback from those who voluntarily leave. There are perennial reasons, according to Melvin: out–<\/span>of-state students sometimes decide they want to go to college closer to home, and others can\u2019t gain admission to the program of their choice, or on some occasions, decide that UConn does not have a major they would like.<\/p>\n

A cause more specific to UConn, however, is that Storrs lacks a traditional college town feel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith development of the Storrs downtown project now underway,\u201d says Melvin, \u201cwe think this concern will soon be addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overall, when it comes to student satisfaction with UConn, Melvin points to 97 percent as the most telling number. That\u2019s the percentage of alumni who would recommend UConn to a friend or relative \u2013 a personal \u201cseal of approval\u201d that counts for a great deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Orientation and mentoring are designed to help ensure that students feel comfortable and succeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[39],"class_list":["post-25310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 01:53:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25310"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37352,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25310\/revisions\/37352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25310"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=25310"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=25310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}