The Retention Challenge: It Can Be Met

Abstract

The first three to six weeks of the freshman year are instrumental in determining whether a student will stay at a schoolorleave.These weeks provide the metropolitan university with a critical "window of opportunity" for first identifying those marginally involved students who are most likely to drop out and then reaching out to them with strategies to foster their success. To have successful retention programs, metropolitan universities must place student success and satisfaction at the center of their operations and to that end must commit themselves to a series of institutional policies, with strong academic advising being chief among them.