More than a third of all undergraduate students are 25 or older, and their presence on college and university campuses is growing. However, institutions of higher learning are struggling to meet the needs of, and improve persistence and completion rates for, this significant student population. "Increasing Adult Learner Persistence and…

This book offers a guide to designing and implementing an enrollment and retention management program for colleges and universities. Emphasis is on a system which integrates the activities of the offices of enrollment management, retention management, admission, financial aid, registration, research, and public relations, including publications…

The conference program and the texts of 24 papers presented at the conference are provided in this document. Selected papers include: "The Use of the College Student Experience Questionnaire in Policy and Program Development" (Karen Bauer and Dale Trusheim); "Predicting Freshman Performance as Admissions Criteria" (David Zubrow); "Has the Middle…

Faced with high rates of student attrition, Santa Barbara Community College (SBCC) established a committee to assess the effectiveness of the college's support services; review research on student retention; and recommend ways of improving student success through academic skills assessment, student academic advisement, articulation and…

Academic advising is a significant dimension of a campus-wide retention program, stimulating a positive, personalized student-teacher relationship. Components of an advising program emphasizing retention include: institutional commitment, faculty endorsement of advisor responsibilities, advisor training, advisor evaluation and recognition, peer…

Design and implementation of supplemental instruction (SI), a combination of content review and training in study strategies for students in high-risk courses, are discussed. The context here is college-level mathematics instruction. It is noted that SI in mathematics may require more structure than in some other content areas. (MSE)

A discussion of the transition from high school to college outlines three principles of program planning for this group: helping first-year students see college as the beginning of a discovery process; exposing them to intellectual issues and experiences; and helping them accept responsibility for their own future. (MSE)

The Supplemental Instruction (SI) program of the University of Missouri-Kansas City addresses attrition by providing academic support in courses that are high risk for students. The program contains a number of innovative features, for example: high risk courses are identified instead of high risk students, and everyone in those courses is offered…

The design and features of a model minority retention program are discussed. Components of successful retention programs include: commitment to attract and retain minority students, ongoing sessions to sensitize the campus community to minority students, academic involvement, tenured minority faculty and staff, support services, and minority…

This paper describes the development of the University of Georgia's Division of Developmental Studies--a program providing special developmental instruction to students who otherwise would not have been admitted to the school. It consists of four components: English, mathematics, reading, and counseling. The objectives of each of these components…

Drawing from a review of the literature on issues related to student retention and attrition, and research on student attitudes toward the Community College of Denver (CCD), this report suggests four models for student retention programs for different two-year college student groups. Following introductory material on the project, a literature…

In 1992, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges (CCC) adopted the Student Equity Policy requiring all districts in the community college system to develop a Student Equity Plan (SEP) to ensure that the composition of students who enroll, are retained, transfer, or achieve their occupational goals in the CCC reflects the…

As the result of an extensive survey of the literature, analysis of current state plans for educating migrant farm workers, and site visits to nine programs serving adult farm workers in California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington, a two-volume final technical report on adult migrant farm worker education is presented. The…

Developed for local faculty senates and individual faculty members in the California Community Colleges (CCC), this report provides suggestions, strategies, and tips for undertaking faculty mentoring efforts aimed at increasing the persistence and transfer of underrepresented students in the CCC. Following an introduction and brief discussion of…

This report describes the key elements of an alternative access program at Mount St. Mary's College (California), from the recruitment and orientation of culturally diverse students to those ongoing academic and support services necessary to student persistence to graduation. The model is outlined in chapter II. Chapters III and IV describe how…