Why Students Are Leaving Your College or UniversityThe old we always do it that way is being replaced with, well, we can’t do it that way any more. And it really did not work then but we let it go because there was enough money around to let you resist change. Now…not so much. We also need to shelve the oh yuh, well we tried that a few years ago. Didn’t work. That dodge to change will not cut it as we go forward. Just ask the ex-employees and programs no longer on campus.
We have to be open to trying new things when things start to show us that the old has been replaced or is on the way there. It would be normal for a harangue now about the need to shift from a student intake culture to a retention culture; from a focus on admissions to one on population and enrollment. But that will wait because as an annual study of why students leave colleges (that includes universities, career colleges and community colleges) an interesting shift became quickly noted. So instead of waiting until the study is completed and wait to publish in the fall because we always do it that way, we needed to get this information out now. This might allow some schools to start to apply it and maybe save some enrollment.
For the past six years, AcademicMAPS has studied why students leave college. The results have been rather constant over the years with a shift of a percentage point or two. It seemed to hold that 72% of all students left school for academic customer service focused reasons. Here’s the new chart from our preliminary study June 2008
The major beneficiaries of the increase in the belief that cost in time and money is not worth it have been the career colleges. What?
Career colleges???!!! For-profits??? They aren’t as good as us. We provide a better education. They don’t even do research!
Okay, two points here. First, a good college is a good college no matter whether it be not-for-profit or for-profit. And, a bad college or one that does not care enough about its students is a bad college whether it loses money or makes money.
BTW, do you know what the major difference is between a good not-for-profit and a good for-profit is? Accounting systems – fund accounting versus cash accrual. In a not-for-profit, extra money at the end of the year is called “fund balance, carryover, surplus”. In a career college it is called “profit”. And yes, a for-profit can have a loss as well as a not-for-profit. And a not-for-profit can generate a profit…uhhhh fund balance.
The good career colleges are often the ones that make money. How? One of their major focuses is on not just enrolling students, but retaining them. Successful for-profits have realized that retention is the real key to success. The more students they can retain, the more students graduate, get degrees, get jobs and help the school make a profit. This is clearly a lesson more not-for-profit schools need to learn. Not cut budgets but retain students.
Second, which is also important to retention success, a good career college does perform research but into its students and their needs or wants. For-profits actually focus on the students. And many they have learned that if students do not feel their investment will provide a good ROI, they are out of there. That’s why a good for-profit provides a good education first and foremost, celebrates students even with free food and recognition ceremonies, and provide two things that make the usually high financial investment worth it. One – a quick 18 or 36 month to degree. Two – real career and placement services that make a job probable not just possible.
If colleges want to retain more students, they will need to focus on making their education and student experience more valuable. That means learn from good career colleges and focus on making the full student experience worthwhile.
Here are a couple other what we can learn from good for-profit colleges. If success and possibly a fund balance are of any interest.
Increasing Enrollment Through Stitches
Increasing Enrollment Success Through Buying Committees
and one for all with some lessons from career colleges
Ten Steps to Retention Success
IF THIS ARTICLE MAKES SENSE TO YOU, YOU WILL WANT TO OBTAIN A COPY OF THE BEST-SELLING NEW BOOK ON RETENTION AND ACADEMIC CUSTOMER SERVICE
“We had hoped we’d improve our retention by 3% but with the help of Dr. Raisman, we increased it by 5%.”Rachel Albert, Provost, University of Maine-Farmington
“Neal led a retreat that initiated customer service and retention as a real focus for us and gave us a clear plan. Then he followed up with presentations and workshops that kicked us all into high gear. We recommend with no reservations; just success.” Susan Mesheau, Executive Director U First: Integrated Recruitment & Retention University of New Brunswick
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