Primary Research Group has Published the Survey of Student Retention Policies in Higher Education (ISBN: 1-57440-097-5)
(PRWEB) April 2, 2008 -- Primary Research Group has published the Survey of Student Retention Policies in Higher Education (ISBN: 1-57440-097-5). The Survey of Student Retention Policies in Higher Education presents data from a benchmarking study of the retention policies of 40 American colleges. Data is broken out for public and private colleges, by Carnegie class and enrollment level, to allow for easier benchmarking.
Some of the findings of the report are that:
? In the past year the colleges in the sample spent $9,696 on average on conferences, webcasts, research reports and other specialized publications and information resources about student retention. One college spent as much as $100,000.
? Colleges in the sample spent a mean of $25,527 on consulting services for student retention in the past year.
? 65% of the colleges sampled had a high-level administrator or Dean whose primary responsibility is to maintain and increase student retention.
? The mean retention rate for the fall semester 2006 to the fall semester 2007 for the colleges in the sample was 73.8%; the median was virtually exactly the same at 74%. The range was quite extraordinary; it went from 45% to 98%.
? Retention rates for part-time students were lower than retention rates for full-time students.
? 40 to 45% of the colleges in the sample track retention rates by grade point average or SAT level.
? 47.5% of the colleges in the sample track retention rates of transferees into the college.
? 17.5% of organizations sampled said that access to tutoring services does not have much of an impact on student retention; 32.5% said that it has some impact, while 37.5% said it had significant impact and 12.5% said it had a dramatic impact.
? 10% of the colleges in the sample said that involvement in extra-curricular activities does not have much of an impact on student retention, while 42.5% said it had some impact and 30% said it had a significant impact. 17.5% noted that it had a dramatic impact on student retention.
? We asked the colleges in the sample about the importance of exit interviews for graduating students. We asked them: how important were these interviews in helping you to develop and implement a retention strategy? About 9.4% said that these interviews were absolutely invaluable in developing their retention strategies and 28.1% said they were useful. Another 31.25% said they were somewhat useful, while 28.1% said they were not really too useful and 3.13% said they were virtually useless.
? 17.5% of the colleges in the sample maintain records that enabled them to pinpoint students who were not participants in any or very few extracurricular activities.
? About 46.2% of the colleges in the sample offer childcare services for students with children.
? About 77% of the colleges in the sample say that they identify high-risk students and then intervene at certain thresholds, such as number of classes or assignments missed or low grade point averages.
? About 76% of the colleges in the sample use students as tutors and only 6% use specialized professional tutors. For roughly 82% of the respondents in the sample, students did not pay for tutoring.
? 9.4% of the colleges in the sample had student advisory centers located in residence halls.
? The mean number of full-time equivalent positions allocated to academic advising was approximately 14.6.
? The mean percentage of students born abroad for the colleges in the sample was 8.66%; the range was zero to 35% with a median of 4.5%.
? Overall, survey respondents estimated that 25.74% of students who dropped out did so for economic reasons
The report presents data from 40 North American colleges about their student retention efforts. Data is broken out for public and private colleges, by enrollment size and by Carnegie Class, to allow for easier benchmarking.
The report is available for $119.00. For a complete table of contents, excerpts and other information, visit our website at www.primaryresearch.com.
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