In this quarter’s interview with an expert, Hobsons caught up with Adrian Schiess, Director of Student Success and Retention at Xavier University. See his thoughts on what are the most pressing issues facing student retention, what institutions need to do to make an impact, and how students are changing the retention game.
Hobsons: How long has your focus been on retention at Xavier?
Adrian Schiess: Xavier’s retention program is one of the oldest in the United States. The program began 20 years ago with a focus on freshman-to-sophomore matriculation and has since blossomed into focusing on undergraduates as a whole. Many universities are just beginning to identify freshman retention problems, but Xavier, with its twenty-year head start, is resolving retention issues across the entire undergrad population.
H: What is your favorite part of your job?
AS: The best part of the job is meeting students, uncovering their retention issues, and resolving them.
H: What’s the most difficult aspect of keeping a student enrolled? What kinds of efforts does Xavier make to ensure your students stay enrolled?
AS: One of the most important things that a retention director needs to know is the reasons why students leave. After this is determined, specific programs and resources can be put in place to resolve retention issues. Oftentimes, it is not just one reason, but truly a blend of reasons. For example, while a student maybe facing a financial issue, it could be creating an academic issue as well.
H: How has working with Hobsons enhanced your efforts at Xavier?
AS: By the utilization of the Retain module, we are able to receive student data that allows us to act more quickly to resolve student issues. A great example of this is in the early warning that can be provided by faculty. While it used to take days and even weeks to get a response from a faculty member on a student’s progress, we now get this information almost instantaneously with the e-communications that are available through Retain.
H: Why do you think Xavier has been so successful with student retention over the years?
AS: There is no doubt that the success that Xavier has achieved in retention is directly related to the personal touch we provide to students. By being able to contact students more quickly and respond to their needs more directly, we can make the most impact. The faster we know about issues, the more quickly we can move to resolution.
H: If you could give one piece of advice to someone who was having trouble with his or her retention initiatives on campus, what would it be?
AS: First and foremost, those focused on retention need to remember identification of student problems is the most important information you can have. It goes without saying that having the resources available to resolve student issues is a requirement. Identifying student issues can be futile if there is no support and resources responsible for resolving those issues.
H: Do you think student retention is changing and if so how?
AS: Student retention is always changing, just as students and their parents are always changing. Each year, we have to adjust to the many new issues that students bring to the retention playing field.
H: How have you adjusted to students needs over the years?
AS: There is a greater need for individual counseling and a one-on-one relationship than there ever has been before. Just finding some additional dollars or steering a student to a professor for assistance is now not enough.
H: Why do you think efforts to retain students are so important?
AS: By having high retention rates and strong graduation rates, we maintain the academic reputation of the institution. By having more students in the classroom, we gain more revenue for the university, which ultimately allows the university to provide more for the students.
Retain U 