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MILLIGAN COLLEGE, TN (Sept. 9, 2003) — Students enrolling at Milligan College this year have a better chance than ever before of making it through the critical first year. College officials announced this morning that the college’s freshman-to-sophomore retention rate for last year’s entering class is a record high 83 percent.
David Mee, Milligan’s vice president for enrollment management, said the rate – which averaged 72 percent just a year ago – is remarkable and an important indicator of the college’s overall success.
“Retention rates are helpful because they represent so many factors on campus – how students feel about academic life, spiritual development, social activities,” said Mee, who explained that the national average ranges from 60 to 75 percent. “This particular statistic may actually be one of the most important when considering a college’s current status. We’re very pleased.”
Mee said Milligan’ s success with retention can be attributed to several new initiatives in recent years, namely the college’s Student Success program.
“Milligan began examining its retention records a few years back and quickly realized the need to develop a program specifically geared to helping students succeed, stay and graduate, especially to help students during the freshman year,” said Mee, who reported that prior to 2001, the college’s 10-year average freshman retention rate was approximately 67 percent.
In 2001, the college received a grant from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund of Jacksonville, Fla., to fund its special retention efforts. A “Student Success” program was launched, and Leslie Glover, who had led similar programs at universities in Georgia, Arkansas, Kansas and Tennessee, was called to lead the initiatives.
“Our goal was to develop programs and initiatives to improve student success, reduce attrition rates and increase retention and graduation rates,” said Milligan’s Academic Dean, Mark Matson. “It’s more than just ensuring that students receive a quality education, but that they develop as a total person, get involved, and develop a sense of community responsibility.”
New Student Success initiatives at Milligan have included new programs for freshman mentoring, academic tutoring, new student orientation and career development, amongst others, explained Glover.
“Student success encompasses everything from a student’s decision to attend Milligan, to physically coming to campus and then ultimately graduating, and even beyond that,” said Glover, who holds a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction/multicultural education from Kansas State University.
Mee and Glover are quick to point out that the college’s success in retention has been a campus-wide effort.
“Everybody at the college – the faculty, staff and administration – plays a role in retention. We have asked ourselves some really tough questions. Are we really serving the students in every way possible? Are we doing all we can to facilitate student-faculty interaction? Are we true to our mission in developing servant leaders?” said Glover.
“You can’t address retention unless you’re willing to change behaviors, and I think we’ve done a very fine job at that. We have become more student-focused. It’s all about identifying and addressing the academic and development needs of the students,” she said.
Retention is a challenge faced by many colleges and universities. Even the federal government is taking a stronger interest in college retention. In December 2002, the U.S. Department of Education announced it would begin emphasizing raising retention rates in higher education while working with Congress to reauthorize the Higher Education Act.
Research has shown that it’s within the first six weeks of school that freshmen make the decision whether to stay or leave college.
“If they don’t get connected, they won’t make it to their second year,” said Glover, who explained that colleges too often focus only on helping students during the first week of school. “It’s not over after the first week of orientation. There’s work still to be done throughout the student’s entire college experience. It’s a continuous process for us, and we recognize that.”
Mee explained that Milligan’s admissions process focuses on recruiting future alumni, not just an incoming class. The college noted an 11 percent increase in its freshman class for fall 2003, with 181 students enrolled. The academic profile for this class, Mee was pleased to note, included an average high school grade point average (GPA) of 3.59 (up from 3.43 last year) and average ACT score of 23.8 (up from 23.2 last year), both well above state and national figures.
Mee reported that total enrollment at Milligan for fall 2003 is 841, which is level with last year’s enrollment of 843.
“We had great retention and a good increase in our freshman class, but we also graduated a large class this past year (143 traditional undergraduates compared to 120 in 2002),” explained Mee. “That’s good news for our graduation rates but means our total enrollment this fall is on par with last year.”
Mee explained that the college is hopeful that retention and graduation rates will continue to climb at Milligan as the college introduces even more mission-centered programs focused on preparing servant leaders.