Retention report recommends ways to to keep students at EMU

Eastern Michigan University does a good job of providing various programs and opportunities to enhance the first-year experience of new students. However, the institution does not do so well at continuing that early momentum, nor does it have any empirical data to determine the impact of these programs on student success, which should translate to persistence and graduation. There also is not enough collaboration to maximize the potential advantage of these programs.

These are the main findings of a 23-member University Student Retention Task Force which, for the last nine months, has explored why the University has trouble retaining students and graduating a larger percentage in six years.

Nelson

"If students don't know why they're here, they're more likely to leave. If they have no goal, there's no motivation to succeed," said Gersham Nelson, executive assistant to the provost and chair of the Student Retention Task Force. "Academic engagement in college requires performance at a high level, but it should be highly stimulating. The extent to which we get students to experience the excitement of learning is the extent to which we will retain them."

Eastern Michigan's six-year graduation rate for FTIACS (students first time in any college system) has improved from 34 percent to 41 percent between 1998 and 2004. However, it is still well below the national average of 54 percent.

Eastern Michigan loses 28 percent of its students between their freshman and sophomore years, Nelson said. That figure drops to 12 percent for EMU students between their junior and senior years, he said.

By 2015, the task force believes EMU's six-year graduation rate can exceed the national average. To embark on this goal, the Task Force recommends the following initiatives:

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