Housing & DiningRetention Initiatives

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Becky Haselton, Joshua Johnson, Dave LaBanc, Blanche McHugh, and Mike Stang

“…students who live on campus (compared to those who live off campus) were more likely to be satisfied with their college experience and to be retained to graduation.” (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005)

The Importance of RetentionBeyond Housing & Dining

– based on a synthesis of 2,600 studies completed between 1989 and 2002

Retention Rate Comparison

Fall 2005 Resident Non-ResidentNot Returned 1,287 4,453

Returned 4,626 7,776

Retention Rate 78.23% 63.59%

Fall 2006 Resident Non-ResidentNot Returned 1,276 4,743

Returned 4,500 7,990

Retention Rate 77.91% 62.75%

Fall 2007 Resident Non-ResidentNot Returned 1,386 4,891

Returned 4,108 8,219

Retention Rate 74.77% 62.69%

Note: Students who had graduated in or after the fall semester and not enrolled in the next fall were counted as Not Return.

1. Aggressively market currently enrolled student room sign-up

2. Initiate a reduced meal plan option for specific academic situations

3. Allocate “double as single” room spaces in all halls during spring sign-up

4. Reconsideration of housing segregated by student classification

2008-09 Initiatives

5. Establish a transfer student community option

6. Modify room selection procedures to enable successful floor communities to remain intact

7. Enhance customer service focus with Community Advisor and Main Desk staffs

2008-09 Initiatives

1. Aggressively market currently enrolled student room sign-up

• Research indicates that parents and peers are significant influences on the housing decision of students (Howe & Strauss, 2003).

• Initiating the marketing campaign earlier in the academic year and focusing the message on these important influencers should result in an increased number of returning residents.

RESULTS? Aggressively market currently enrolled student room sign-up

• 1,878 residents returned for Fall 2008.

• Fall 2008 opened with 37% of Spring 2008’s residents. This is up 2% from previous Fall openings!

2. Initiate a reduced meal plan option for specific academic situations

• Provide a smaller meal plan for qualified residents (student teaching, etc.) that is more compatible with use for dinner and weekend only schedules, and reduces the board cost for these residents.

• Applications created by December 1, 2007.

RESULTS? Initiate a reduced meal plan option for specific academic situations

• 13 students selected the Light Meal Plan option this Fall.– Five of them are residents.

3. Allocate “double as single” room spaces in all halls during spring sign-up

• Maximize revenue and increase occupancy by estimating the number of vacant double rooms and offering these rooms as “double-as-single” rooms to upper class and transfer students.

• Create a revenue stream, rather than “give” away the extra space.

• Action plan completed by January 15, 2008.

RESULTS? Allocate “double as single” room spaces in all halls during spring sign-up

• All 200 originally allocated double-as-single rooms were claimed.

• Based on high demand and space available an additional 42 rooms were allocated and purchased.

4. Reconsideration of housing segregated by student classification

• Open one tower of Grant and one Tower of Stevenson as pilot communities for currently enrolled students to return, without occupancy caps and to be available to first-year students.

• Reframe First-Year Residential Experience to focus on new freshmen in all communities.

RESULTS? Reconsideration of housing segregated by student classification

• Stevenson D tower was filled by the end of the first week of new student room selection. First year students still remain on the waitlist for rooms in Stevenson at the end of Fall semester.

• Approximately 140 continuing and transfer students selected rooms in Grant C Tower

5. Establish a transfer student community option

• Housing & Dining housed fewer than 28% of the incoming transfer students in Spring 2008. – Creating a specific floor community for transfer

students that is marketed specifically to this target population should result in an increase of transfer, resident students.

RESULTS? Establish a transfer student community option

• Two transfer floors in Stevenson C Tower were filled by mid-summer. Additional requests came in until hall opening in August.

• In 2008/09 incoming transfer student residents increased to 29.8% (34 beds).

6. Modify room selection procedures to enable successful floor communities to remain intact

• Permitting returning residents to remain in their current residential communities and to cluster together should be attractive to at least one small community within each residence hall resulting in greater retention.

RESULTS? Modify room selection procedures to enable successful floor communities to remain intact

• 11 groups participated with a total of 117 residents.

7. Enhance customer service focus with Community Advisors and Main Desk staffs

• Provided FISH philosophy training to both staffs.

• Did secret shopper “research” at desks.

• Facilitated team builders in order to help staffs build morale and work better as a team.

• Build on positive momentum in the halls that saw a significant increase in residents who would recommend on-campus housing to new students on the 2007/08 EBI.

2008 Initiative - SUCCESSES• Aggressively market currently enrolled room

sign-up .

• Double-as-single room allocation.

• Reduction of segregated housing by academic class.

• Transfer community

• Community based room sign-up

2008 Initiative – Growth Potential

• More effectively market the reduced meal plan option.

• Enhance customer service focus for CA and Main Desk staff.

• Augment Community-based sign up by increasing the number of student organizations that take advantage of this option.

Fall 2009 Initiativescontinued from 2008/09 school year

1. Aggressively market currently enrolled student room sign-up

2. Improve marketing of reduced meal plan option3. Allocate MORE double-as-single room space4. Housing desegregated by student classification5. Add more transfer community floors6. Continue enabling successful communities to

remain intact through community-based room sign-up

7. Enhance customer service focus for CA and Main Desk staff

Initiatives 1-7 were successful in Fall 2008 and will be reused in Fall 2009.

Fall 2009 Initiativesnew initiatives for 2009/10 school year

8. Establish residency requirement for hall Main Desk staffs

9. Expand community based sign-up to include student organization theme floors

10. Allocate 2 person suite room space11. Increase number of high demand, standard

co-ed floors12. Be more intentional about measuring the

efficacy of these initiatives

3. Allocate MORE double-as-single room space

• Residential Administration has labeled 64 more rooms “double-as-single” for Fall 2009.

8. Establish residency requirement for hall main desk staff

• Beginning Fall 2009 preference (only residents will be invited to the first round of interviews) for Main Desk positions will be given to residents.– We are considering making it a requirement for all desk

workers to be residents, but we are concerned that this strategy may thin our pool too much.

• Current employees who already live off-campus would be allowed to return to their positions.

HOW? Establish residency requirement for hall main desk staff

• Current off-campus staff would be permitted to continue living off-campus should they intend to continue employment with the desk operations staff.

• Staff who currently live on-campus, and any new staff hired during the spring semester, would be required to live on-campus, preferably in the building to which they are assigned to work.

• Clearly communicate to the staff the preferential treatment will be given to resident applicants.

9. Expand community based sign-up to include student organization theme floors

• Identify Greek organizations and other student interest groups that do not currently have a “house” to develop floors or cluster housing which could serve their needs.

• Options could include group assignments, off-line rooms for office and/or programmatic space (possibly a lounge as a chapter room).

HOW? Expand community based sign-up to include student organization theme floors

• Implementation of a pilot program following the identification of at least one student organization that would desire to live together in a residence hall community.

• Work with Student Involvement and Leadership Development to identify student organizations and work with these groups to meet their needs and make them residents.

10. Allocate 2 person suite room space

• 2 person Stevenson suite spaces are new for 09/10.

• Summer occupancy management monitoring revealed a significant number of partially filled suites. This provided the opportunity to offer single occupants the option to buy out their half of the suite.

• Approximately 30% of residents offered this option agreed to buy out their half of the suite.

HOW? Allocate 2 person suite room space

• Residential Administration will set up 30 suites as 2 person suites and make them available through room sign up.

11. Increase number of high demand, standard co-ed floors

• In Fall 2008 we had a number of “lifestyle” floors available in different combinations.– Quite Lifestyle + Single Gender– Single Gender + Alcohol Free– Etc.

• This option made the few residents who self-selected this option happy, but created tension when we had to place residents on these floors who had not asked for it and were not happy with the respective restrictions.– Most floors were chosen by less than 50% of the final residents

HOW? Increase number of high demand, standard co-ed floors

• Residential Administration will set up 79 standard coed floors for Fall 2009 (24 more than Fall 2008) and make them available through room sign up.

12. Be more intentional about measuring the efficacy of these initiatives

• Quantifiable Initiatives– Measure the number of organizations we are able to recruit

to the residence halls and track how many beds across all organizations this strategy yielded.

– Monitor the number of 2 person suites requested during room sign up.

– When room sign-up is complete, we will review occupancy numbers for all standard coed floors.

HOW? Be more intentional about measuring the efficacy of these initiatives

• The best way to measure our “environmental” (qualitative) initiatives will be to have residents complete surveys and ask them which initiatives contributed to their staying in the halls.

• We will provide all initiatives on the surveys and simply ask them to indicate which initiatives were instrumental in their decision.

• Survey returners when confirmation letters are sent.

• Survey non-returners immediately after returner survey is sent.

So, What Can We ExpectINITIATIVE NUMBER PERCENTAGEAggressively market currently enrolled student room sign-up X -

Improve marketing of reduced meal plan option 5 100%

Allocate MORE double-as-single room space 64 25%

Housing segregated by student classification X -

Add more transfer community floors X -Continue enabling successful communities to remain intact through community-based room sign-up

20 17%

So, What Can We ExpectINITIATIVE NUMBER PERCENTAGEEnhance customer service focus for CA and main desk staff X -

Establish residency requirement for hall main desk staff 10 -

Expand community based sign-up to include student organization theme floors Ø Fall 2010

Allocate 2 person suite room space 30 NEWIncrease number of high demand, standard co-ed floors X -

X = Environmental factor assessed through collection of attitudinal data (survey).

% = increase over current participation in that initiative.

Ø = Not active for Fall 2009

So, What Can We Expect

YEARSTAYED ON

CAMPUS % RETAINEDFall 2006 1,909 35%Fall 2007 1,843 35%Fall 2008 1,875 37%Fall 2009 1,950 39%

Thank you for you attention!

QUESTIONS