November, 2007

Recuritment & Retention - November, 2007 - Full Issue PDF
…

Loyola Marymount University’s Three-Part Retention Strategy Pays Off
By Jade Smith
I look at student retention as a game of inches. With a typical incoming freshman class of 1,250 to 1,270 students, a percentage point up or down amounts to 12 students. Our First Year Experience office is determined to inch its way toward a higher freshman-to-sophomore retention rate.

Introducing: Customized Social Networking Systems
By Peter Tomassi and Adam B. Troy
A customized, university-specific social networking system allows a campus to create a private, protected community that is accessible only to enrolled students, faculty, and administrator

Developing a Financial Literacy Program at Suffolk University Law School
By Jennifer Patterson Lorenzetti
The message is coming from many directions: Colleges “need to do more to protect their students from taking on credit card debt that can severely damage their economic prospects once they graduate from school and join the world of work,” the New York Times wrote in a recent editorial. Business Week said that the new “freshman 15” — or cause for concern — is access to easy credit.

Newswire
Recommendations for Financial Aid Counseling: Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports , with support from the Pew Charitable Trusts, has published a new report titled Helping Families Finance College: Improved Student Loan Disclosures and Counseling. They recommend the following.

NCES and ACT Data Reveal a Cause for Optimism
By Richard L. Ferguson
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) recently released Persistence and Attainment of 2003–04 Beginning Postsecondary Students: After Three Years. The study provides a wealth of information on a large, nationally representative sample of students, looking at type of institution attended, degree plans, enrollment, degree completion, and number of students who left the institution without a degree. It shows that a significant number of those students were no longer enrolled in college.