I always enjoyed the beginning of each education year. New kids, new classes, and new adventures. Another school year is upon us, and we still face that same issue of retention.

As you may know, I’ve recently co-authored a book for faculty and staff in higher education titled Understanding and Engaging Under-Resourced College Students. The book focuses on improving college retention and graduation rates. It provides postsecondary educators, administrators, and student support services personnel with a comprehensive and focused look at both the needs of students and strategies for their success.

Faculty and administrators of a university in Michigan plan to identify the 5% of their freshman population whom they consider to be most at risk and connect these students with a caring adult on campus—a strategy promoted regularly by aha! Process. In working with this campus on implementing the constructs in this book, the university’s dean of arts and sciences said he would like to hear about your experiences implementing these strategies.

What was your overall approach?
What detail did you find to be helpful?
What difficulties did you encounter, and how did you deal with them?
What were your results?

I will be delighted if you post your comments on retaining your college freshmen