Improving Four-Year Graduation Rates – Why It is ImportantSusan Powers, AVP for Academic AffairsJosh Powers, AVP for Student Success

The Pathway to Success

Strategic Plan ConferenceMarch 4, 2014

FR Cohort Persistence on Path to Graduation: 2006-2012Pe

rcen

tage

Fall 2 Fall 3 Fall 4 Fall 5 Fall 6 Fall 740

45

50

55

60

65

70

2006 (1,552)

2007 (1,691)

2008 (1,832)

2009 (1,801)

2010 (2,566)

2011 (2,512)

2012 Co-hort Ret.

Cohort En-rollments

Note: Falls 3-7 include both enrolled and graduated students by those points.

The Pathway to Success

19992000

20012002

20032004

20052006

20072008

20092010

20112012

20130

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1-Year Retention6-Year Completion4-Year Completion

Source: IR Data

1-Yr Retention and 4 & 6-Yr Completion:Total FTFT-BDS Cohort by Snapshot Year

Noted Changes in this Period:• Slow enrollment

decline early part of decade; large increases began Fall 2010.

• Lilly Grant for 1st Year Programs ended 2002.

• Low income, minority, & cond. admit enrollment jump in 2010. Noted decline in conditional admits in subsequent years.

The Pathway to Success

19992000

20012002

20032004

20052006

20072008

20092010

20112012

20130

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1-Year Retention6-Year Completion4-Year Completion

Source: IR Data

1-Yr Retention and 4 & 6-Yr Completion:Pell Student Cohort by Snapshot Year

Noted Changes in this Period:• Pell grant maximums

largely flat through 2006.

• Changes in Pell eligibility definition resulted in jump in Pell students in 2009, but very large jump in 2010.

• Economy tanked in 2009.

The Pathway to Success

19992000

20012002

20032004

20052006

20072008

20092010

20112012

20130

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1-Year Retention6-Year Completion4-Year Completion

Source: IR Data

1-Yr Retention and 4 & 6-Yr Completion: AfricanAmerican Student Cohort by Snapshot Year Noted Changes in Period:

• Substantial growth in African American students from urban areas, particularly Chicago and Indy, starting in 2010.

• 2007 federal ethnicity definition change.

• Initiation of ISUcceed Program in African American Cultural Center in 2011.

• Change in recruitment strategy in Chicago area in 2011.

The Pathway to Success

19992000

20012002

20032004

20052006

20072008

20092010

20112012

20130

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1-Year Retention6-Year Completion4-Year Completion

Source: IR Data

1-Yr Retention and 4 & 6-Yr Completion:White Student Cohort by Snapshot Year Noted Changes in Period:

• Enrollment decline starting in 2003, started increasing in 2007, largest jump in 2010.

The Pathway to Success

19992000

20012002

20032004

20052006

20072008

20092010

20112012

20130

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1-Year Retention6-Year Completion4-Year Completion

Source: IR Data

1-Yr Retention and 4 & 6-Yr Completion:21st Century Scholar Cohort by Snapshot Year

Noted Changes in Period:• State policy change

2011: Eligibility changes aimed at reducing program costs.

• State policy change 2012: Fall 2013 FR must complete 30 CRs/year to keep full aid.

• Large jumps in 21st Century Scholar enrollment Fall 2010, 2011, and 2013.

The Pathway to Success

19981999

20002001

20022003

20042005

20062007

20082009

20102011

20122013

500550600650700750800850900950

1000

WhiteTotal CohortPell21st Century ScholarsAfrican American

Source: IR Data

Change in SAT Scores of Entering Freshmen: 1998-2013

The Pathway to SuccessWhat Does the Research Say Impacts Completion at 4-Year Institutions?The Big 4 – TPSC• Time (i.e., longer it takes to do anything, more

likely “other things” get in the way)

• Predictability

• Structured pathways to degree

• Co-requisite remediation

Way that most institutions increase completion:Change who they admit

The Pathway to Success

State Mandates

• HEA 1220-2012 (Credit Creep Bill) – implemented Fall 2013

• SEA 182-2012 (Statewide Transfer General Education Core) – implemented Fall 2013

• SEA 182-2013 (Single Articulation Pathways) – to be implemented Fall 2015

• HEA 1348-2013 (Degree Maps) – to be implemented Fall 2014

The Pathway to SuccessISU Response

Curriculum

Summer School

Instruction and Related Activities

The Pathway to SuccessISU Response

Curriculum• Board of Trustee Components of a Degree• 120 credit hours – 4 programs approved for exemption • Foundational Studies Core to not exceed 45 hours• Minimum of 45 hours of 300/400 level coursework• A major consisting of 31-71 hours of approved

coursework• 30 programs exceed 72 hours (10 are revising)

• A major can be completed in 6 semesters• 10 programs - 7 semesters• 13 programs - 8 semesters

✔

✔

✔

The Pathway to SuccessISU Response

Curriculum• Board of Trustee Components of a Degree• STGEC• 30 credit hour transfer core as a block• Faculty developed outcomes

• Single Articulation Pathways• Transfer from Ivy Tech & Vincennes• 60 credit hours• Development underway for at least 10 areas

• Degree Maps• MySAM• General Interest Areas• 6 credits remedial coursework

• General Studies Degree – Target for Fall 2014

The Pathway to SuccessISU Response

Summer School • 4-Year Graduation Incentive• Summer Marketing• Taskforce for Summer 2015

The Pathway to SuccessISU ResponseInstruction and Related Activities• Faculty Center for Teaching Excellence• Academic Department Student Enrollment and Success Plans• Advising post University College

Enrollment * Retention * Completion * Post-College Achievement

Sessions get to the root of advisement problems

Indiana Statesman, February 24, 2014

The Pathway to SuccessISU ResponseInstruction and Related Activities• Graduation Guarantee• Over 1,000 students from Fall 2012 and 2013• All students Fall 2014

• Accountability• Handbook policies related to faculty responsibility

• Remedial Math• Contracted to Ivy Tech 2012-13 and 2013-14

• Departmental success taskforce• Examine dept. issues that hinder student success • Evaluate the chair’s role in promoting/supporting dept.

behaviors related to student and faculty success• Identify specific faculty behaviors that promote student

success

Small Group Discussion Exercise

At your table, please discuss these three questions related to student completion at ISU:

1. What are the time-to-degree facilitators and inhibitors within programs or curriculums that you observe? Are there ones that would be useful to examine?

2. What factors do you observe that enable or hinder predictability for students as they plan or change their academic course of study and/or select or change a major? Where are the gateway course bottlenecks and are there ways to reduce them?

3. What do you feel are important considerations in discussions about strategy in the college completion arena?

Re-defining Excellence•Traditional Definition in Higher Education: Who gets excluded•The ISU Way: Who gets included and the transforming experiences they receive• Our Challenge to Ourselves: Being that rare institution that evidences rising completion rates on the back of inclusion, not exclusion. It is generally easier for a college to change who they admit than it is to change the success rates of the students already there. - American Enterprise Institute study of 1,700 U.S. colleges (Feb. 2014)