Launching COMPLETE COLLEGE AMERICA Dr. Risa E. Dickson Vice President for Academic Planning and Policy University of Hawai‘i System

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Strategies to Promote Completion 2010 CCA Completion Academy Reduce time and accelerate success Take 15 credits a semester Transform remediation Restructure delivery Shift to performance funding 3

The Beginning of a Campaign In 2012, UH embarked on the Hawai‘i Graduation Initiative (HGI), a systemwide effort to promote student success and reduce time to degree A key strategy was the 15 to Finish campaign: Used data and media campaigns to share key messages to students, parents, and the community Formed the basis for policy and procedure changes to remove barriers to taking 15 Brought focus to campus initiatives around student success Shifted the norm from 12 to 15 credits 4

Initial Questions about 15 Credits What was our current situation? Would taking 15 credits a semester make a difference in retention and graduation rates? Would it work for all students, including at risk populations? Could we shift to a culture where taking 15 credits was the norm, not 12? Could we remove existing barriers to taking 15 credits? 5

What was Our Current Situation and Would Taking 15 Make a Difference? Studied fall 2009-11 first-time freshmen cohorts 55-78% took 12 to 14 credits, including those at the community colleges Those who completed at least 30 credit hours within their 1st academic year had better grades and retention and graduation rates 6

Will 15 Work for All Students: Conducted an In Depth Analysis Analyzed various measures of success of first-time freshmen taking <15 credits and ≥15 credits per semester by: Academic preparation – Created a score of 1 to 4 (with 4 being the highest) based on SAT/ACT, HS GPA/rank, etc. Demographics (gender, ethnicity, Pell) 7

Measures of Academic Success 1st semester grade point average 1st semester GPA “B” or better Credit completion ≥ 80% Course withdrawals ≥ 20% Persistence 8

Results of Our Analysis Students who took 15 or more credits tended to be better prepared and to have greater academic success. More importantly, at all but the lowest levels of academic preparation, students who took 15 or more credits generally had greater academic success. This held for Pell and URM students as well. 9

Post-Campaign Results 10

First-Time Freshmen Fall Cohorts % ≥15 Credits Attempted First-Time Freshmen Fall Cohorts 11

First-Time Freshmen Cohort, Fall 2012 Fall Retention First-Time Freshmen Cohort, Fall 2012 12

First-Time Freshmen Cohort, Fall 2012 Fall Retention First-Time Freshmen Cohort, Fall 2012 13

First-Time Freshmen Cohort, Fall 2012 Fall Retention First-Time Freshmen Cohort, Fall 2012 14

% of Students Who Earned 30 Credits / Year First-Time Freshmen Cohorts 15

% of Students Who Earned 30 Credits / Year First-Time Freshmen Cohorts 16

% of Students Who Earned 30 Credits / Year First-Time Freshmen Cohorts 17

4-Year Graduation Rates, 2013-15 First-Time Freshmen Cohorts, 2009-11 18

4-Year Graduation Rates, 2013-15 First-Time Freshmen Cohorts, 2009-11 19

4-Year Graduation Rates, 2013-15 First-Time Freshmen Cohorts, 2009-11 20

Summary The campaign was successful in getting students to take 15 or more credits First-time freshmen benefited most Pell and URM students who took 15 credits did better than those who took fewer credits Next steps are to focus on “The Right 15” using our homegrown STAR Guided Pathway System (GPS) 21