Use the Eight Dimensions of Retention to Reduce Attrition

Magna Publications News Release

Madison, Wis.—December 14, 2010—Retention is a complex issue, and it is one that is very much on the minds of university officials everywhere. Accrediting organizations are increasingly calling for retention and graduation outcomes. Retention is factored into national rankings, and there is increased interest from the media and prospective students and their families. It is a logical extension of enrollment management, and there are implications for institutional revenue. Focusing on retention is also the right thing to do.

Sarah Parrott, consultant and analyst, and Roland Stark, senior research associate, both at Maguire Associates, use a conceptual approach to understanding and approaching retention. This model incorporates eight dimensions of retention that can improve a university’s ability to address retention issues, save at-risk students, increase student satisfaction, make attrition less problematic, reduce current student attrition, and enhance future student retention. The dimensions are:

Organize: This dimension measures how well the institution is organized to address its student issues, whether it has assigned appropriate decision-making responsibility, and whether it has the necessary data and reporting systems.

Know: This is a measure of understanding of why students leave, including characteristics and opinions of students who stay or leave, and an understanding of the reasons why students transfer or drop out.

Track: This measures the university’s ability to identify students at-risk for attrition, and whether the institution has a robust tracking system that provides sufficient early warning of students who are attrition risks.

Intervene: This dimension measures the institution’s ability to mobilize and coordinate the appropriate staff and services needed to intervene on behalf of at-risk students.

Promise: Does the institution promise only what it can deliver? Is it raising appropriate expectations in marketing to prospective students, and are its messages accurate?

Deliver: This dimension measures whether the institution delivers desirable experiences, including academic offerings and other experiences that the institution promises.

Enroll: How well does the institution enroll students more likely to persist? Does it make adjustments in recruiting that will assure a better fit between student and school so that fewer of them will leave?

Reframe: Does the institution understand the significance of attrition in terms of financial cost, competitive standing, and institutional ambitions? Does it have strategies for mitigating the effects of attrition?

Retention is an important issue for all institutions of higher education; with the model explained by Parrott and Stark, they can better understand how their actions impact their retention and attrition and take steps to address issues while better serving their students.

This seminar will help you understand how to boost your retention rate by focusing on strategic, rather than tactical, methodologies. The presenters will help you discover how to:

• Recognize and anticipate the pitfalls associated with spearheading a retention effort on college campuses.
• Most effectively organize to identify and address retention issues.
• Identify the institutional data needed to study retention.
• Understand and explain retention to people on your campus using the 8 Dimensions of Retention.
• Ask the right questions as you begin to study retention on your campus.
• Gain a basic understanding of the methodologies that can be employed to identify the factors that contribute to attrition at your institution.

If you missed the seminar and would like to purchase it for your institution, you can order the program in CD or print transcript format, both of which include the presenters' handouts.

Magna Publications is a leading publisher of newsletters and other information products in the higher education segment. Magna also manages onsite and online conferences on topics of interest to higher education.< /p>

For more information please contact David Burns, Publisher, Magna Publications, Inc., at 608-227-8109, or dburns@magnapubs.com.