Spring Break
Enrollment and retention continue to increase
Kristine Gill
Issue date: 9/13/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
This year's 15th day statistics were released Tuesday and show a 1.4 percent increase in retention and a 1.27 percent increase in the number of students on all eight campuses.
The statistics are released 15 days into the semester after students have dropped or added classes and to allow for late enrollment. Ohio colleges must report the numbers to the state each year.
This fall, 72.5 percent of 2006 first-time freshmen returned to Kent State for another year. This percentage is 1.4 percent higher than the retention rate for the 2005 class.
Wayne Schneider of Research Planning and Institutional Effectiveness said this is a big increase.
"When you're walking around on this campus, you won't notice 100 more students," Schneider said. "You might feel it next year with more first time freshmen and more sophomores staying around."
Pete Goldsmith, vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, said more returning students is a measure of success for the university. He agrees that the increase is significant.
"A lot more students are continuing their education at Kent State, and that helps with recruitment," Goldsmith said.
Both Schneider and Goldsmith attribute the increase, in part, to the efforts of faculty and staff.
"We did a lot of hard work," Goldsmith said. "A retention task group was at work all year and faculty were involved especially in the first six weeks. It was a university-wide effort to increase the numbers."
Schneider referenced midterm initiatives and a bigger effort to contact students who had dropped or were struggling with classes as contributing factors.
"There were a lot of things going on at Kent and it showed in the numbers," Schneider said. "There are a lot of people working together to help students succeed."
The statistics also detail the number of students attending Kent State and its regional campuses through two different counts.
Preponderant enrollment numbers count each student only once and consider students as members of the campus where they take the most credit hours.
Concurrent enrollment numbers give regional campuses an idea of how many students are on campus. They count students once for each campus they attend.
Despite an increase in percentages, figures and numbers, Schneider points out that the results go deeper.
"We want to improve the success rate of our students. This is not purely about improving numbers but helping students to succeed here at Kent," he said. "Improved success has really shown in the numbers."
Once the excitement over the improvement and the numbers has died down, Schneider said more digging will be done to analyze specific demographics and subgroups of freshmen. The university will use this information to develop new methods of improving retention.
Schneider jokingly pointed out that despite what increased retention and enrollment mean to the university, "current students don't want more students because it means less parking spaces."
Contact student affairs reporter Kristine Gill at kgill2@kent.edu.
The statistics are released 15 days into the semester after students have dropped or added classes and to allow for late enrollment. Ohio colleges must report the numbers to the state each year.
This fall, 72.5 percent of 2006 first-time freshmen returned to Kent State for another year. This percentage is 1.4 percent higher than the retention rate for the 2005 class.
Wayne Schneider of Research Planning and Institutional Effectiveness said this is a big increase.
"When you're walking around on this campus, you won't notice 100 more students," Schneider said. "You might feel it next year with more first time freshmen and more sophomores staying around."
Pete Goldsmith, vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, said more returning students is a measure of success for the university. He agrees that the increase is significant.
"A lot more students are continuing their education at Kent State, and that helps with recruitment," Goldsmith said.
Both Schneider and Goldsmith attribute the increase, in part, to the efforts of faculty and staff.
"We did a lot of hard work," Goldsmith said. "A retention task group was at work all year and faculty were involved especially in the first six weeks. It was a university-wide effort to increase the numbers."
Schneider referenced midterm initiatives and a bigger effort to contact students who had dropped or were struggling with classes as contributing factors.
"There were a lot of things going on at Kent and it showed in the numbers," Schneider said. "There are a lot of people working together to help students succeed."
The statistics also detail the number of students attending Kent State and its regional campuses through two different counts.
Preponderant enrollment numbers count each student only once and consider students as members of the campus where they take the most credit hours.
Concurrent enrollment numbers give regional campuses an idea of how many students are on campus. They count students once for each campus they attend.
Despite an increase in percentages, figures and numbers, Schneider points out that the results go deeper.
"We want to improve the success rate of our students. This is not purely about improving numbers but helping students to succeed here at Kent," he said. "Improved success has really shown in the numbers."
Once the excitement over the improvement and the numbers has died down, Schneider said more digging will be done to analyze specific demographics and subgroups of freshmen. The university will use this information to develop new methods of improving retention.
Schneider jokingly pointed out that despite what increased retention and enrollment mean to the university, "current students don't want more students because it means less parking spaces."
Contact student affairs reporter Kristine Gill at kgill2@kent.edu.
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