Purdue News

Purdue, Lilly link up to improve retention Personal and family problems. Concerns with major. Employment. Money. These are among the reasons that former Purdue students gave for why they dropped out without completing a degree. The results came from a survey of 2,200 students who enrolled at one of four Purdue campuses in fall 1989 but left the University without completing their degree. Undertaken to improve retention of students, the survey was part of an effort that was given a $5 million boost a year ago by the Lilly Endowment. The Lilly funds will be spent during a five-year period to improve six-year baccalaureate degree completion rates on all Purdue campuses. The endowment, the philanthropic arm of Eli Lilly and Co., in 1997 made grants totaling $24 million to 14 Indiana public and private colleges and universities to boost retention. The Purdue effort will create new retention programs as well as expand existing ones. "Although we have retention programs in place in all schools and at all campuses, the grant allows us to multiply our efforts in all areas of the University," says Registrar Marlesa Roney, senior project officer for the Purdue-Lilly Endowment retention initiatives. One goal of the project is to boost six-year baccalaureate degree completion rates by 5 percent on all campuses. Graduation rates vary widely on the four Purdue campuses that are part of the Lilly initiatives. The six-year graduation rate for West Lafayette Campus students stands at 73 percent, meaning that of 100 students who enrolled full-time, 73 had completed a bachelor's degree six years later. At Purdue Calumet, Purdue North Central and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, 33 percent of full-time students earned a degree in six years. The numbers reflect the differing missions and makeup of the student body at the various campuses. "We've learned in surveys and focus groups that the community campuses and the West Lafayette Campus can learn from one another," Roney says. For instance, 50 percent of students who start out taking part-time classes at West Lafayette will leave school before the start of their second year. At Purdue North Central, eight in 10 part-time students make it to their second year. "This indicates that North Central has implemented programs that better support the academic needs of part-time students," Roney says. "These are the kinds of lessons we're learning and applying as part of the Lilly initiatives." At the end of the five-year period, a stronger system of retention programs will be in place. "We know that a percentage of students will have their educational goals and commitments challenged," says Drew Koch, retention specialist with the Purdue-Lilly program. "Our plan is to have a comprehensive set of programs in place to catch those people and increase their chances of staying." Purdue is just starting year two of the five-year project. The programs that are being enhanced and integrated to better retain students fall into three categories: * Students' initial commitment. This thrust includes coordination andexpansion of orientation programming. Special attention will be paid to groups such as transfer students, international students, ethnic minority students and nontraditional students. In addition, an "early start" summer program has been expanded to prepare more students for college. * Integration and ongoing commitment. This area involves seminars for students in specific academic disciplines, student-led supplemental instruction, honors and research opportunities, and living/learning communities in which students in similar academic disciplines will be grouped together in the residence halls or in course clusters. * Delivery systems. This category includes workshops for faculty and teaching assistants, "proactive" academic advising, training for "front-line" staff, integrated services available to students via the World Wide Web, and coordination of all retention efforts. Integral to the Lilly initiative will be assessment of the effectiveness of all programs by surveying students, faculty and staff involved. "Part of the Lilly Endowment project is to serve our students better, but we're also getting a much better idea of which programs will work best for which students," says Robert Ringel, executive vice president for academic affairs and project director. "We have programs in place to assist students in completing their degrees, but the Lilly initiative allows us to re-examine and reinforce these efforts." Ringel looks forward to the results of the project - which won't be known until the end of the six years after full implementation of the enhanced and expanded retention efforts. "If we're successful in increasing graduation rates 5 percent, that will mean an additional 4,000 bachelor's degrees will be awarded by Purdue during the next decade," he says. Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page