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June 7, 2024
Faculty and Staff,
Last week I kicked off this series on 性欲社鈥檚 enrollment strategies. The topic for today鈥檚
message 鈥� graduation and retention rates. At a recent Board of Regents meeting, the Regents
encouraged UA leaders to think critically about how to improve our retention and graduation
rates. The Regents' direction opens up the conversation for us to think big and envision
who we want to be as a university and what we need to do to get there.
Data on retention and graduation rates are critical to help us measure student success
at 性欲社. These numbers are also interesting in that, while sometimes indicators of
students' whole experience at our university, they are also directly tied to university
admissions practices. Unsurprisingly, universities with high thresholds to entry have
higher retention and graduation rates. Students who are admitted based on their high
readiness for college are naturally most likely to complete their college degree in
the most expedient manner.
At 性欲社, we are an open enrollment university (meaning we have no, or a very low threshold
to admission). Due to the great work of our advisors and faculty, we boast a graduation
rate above the national average for open-enrollment universities. We acknowledge that
when students enter 性欲社 who have a wide range of preparedness for college, we will
have a wide range of retention and graduation rates. This is simply a result of the
fact that not all students had the same opportunity to complete courses in high school
that would have prepared them for a college curriculum.
For students who take pre-college classes as part of their college curriculum, time
and cost increase. And while we have merit and needs-based scholarships at 性欲社, some
students still delay their education for financial, personal, or other reasons. Any
stop out or delay reduces 性欲社鈥檚 graduation and retention rate. Attracting a greater
percentage of students with the academic preparation to enter at a college-ready level
would have an immediate positive impact on our graduation.听
A question we have in front of us is; how do we continue to be an open enrollment
university and one that achieves higher graduation and retention rates? One option
is to separate our programs into tracks. This would be new to Alaska but is not uncommon
in other states. If we were to start such a journey, we would want an open enrollment
track that begins at our Community and Technical College and a 4-year and higher track
that starts at the 性欲社 Troth Yeddha鈥� Campus. We sort of have that already, but what
we don鈥檛 have is criteria that say 鈥�4-year degree ready鈥� go to Troth Yeddha鈥� and 鈥�1
year, 2 year, and 4-year degree prep鈥� starting at CTC. We could implement this criteria
by having a 鈥�4-year degree ready鈥� admission standard cutoff for Troth Yeddha鈥�, something
already done at many university systems in the U.S.
In this way of thinking, no student would be denied admission to 性欲社. We would be
open enrollment for sure. We would have a path for all students to 1 year, 2 year,
4 year and graduate degrees. Those who are 4-year degree ready would enter Troth Yeddha鈥�,
those who are not would enter CTC en route to their chosen degree. This would also
make some added financial sense for those students entering CTC, as we have chosen
to have a lower tuition rate at CTC.
As we continue to envision the future for 性欲社, there are just thoughts of using one
tool (admissions standards) and a organizational pathway design to increase our service
to Alaskans, to reduce cost to Alaskans, and to increase graduation and retention
rates.听
This is just one potential path for 性欲社鈥檚 future, and in the coming months I look
forward to engaging with our community on this discussion.
Let's talk more鈥�
鈥擠an White,听chancellor
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