MEGAN LOMBARDI STAFF DEVELOPMENT WEEK JANUARY 13, 2015 Why do Students Leave CLC? Results from the Fall 2014 Survey of Withdrawn Students

Methodology Identified college level students who dropped or withdrew from ALL their courses after opening day in fall  Students may have dropped all their courses between the start of the term and the 15% point of the course.  Students may have been withdrawn by their instructors at midterm (e.g. WS, WN).  Students may have withdrawn themselves before the withdrawal deadline (e.g. W).

How Many Students Withdrew? What percent of the college level students enrolled in fall 2014 withdrew from all their courses?  There were 14,263 college level students enrolled in fall  There were 1,198 students who withdrew completely after opening day (8% of enrolled students)  744 students (62% of the withdrawn students) dropped all their courses between opening day and the 15% point.  454 students (38% of the withdrawn students) withdrew (or were withdrawn) from all their courses between the 15% point and the withdrawal deadline for the semester.

How Many Students Withdrew? Students withdrew from between 1 and 18 credit hours.  An average of 6 credit hours were withdrawn per student A total of 7,532 credit hours were withdrawn after opening day.

Who are the Withdrawn Students? DemographicsWithdrawn StudentsFall 2014 Enrollees African American/Black12%8% Female56%54% Non-traditional Age51%37% College ReadinessWithdrawn StudentsFall 2014 Enrollees Reading/Writing Ready86% (3% undetermined)88% (2% undetermined) Math Ready31% (8% undetermined)37% (6% undetermined)

Who are the Withdrawn Students?

Possible Reasons Students Left Drop for non-payment  28% of the students who withdrew completely had been dropped for non-payment after opening day.  More than half (51%) of those who were dropped for non-payment did not re-enroll after they were dropped.  49% re-enrolled after being dropped and ended up dropping themselves or withdrawing later in the term. Cancelled classes  2% of the students who withdrew completely had one or more classes cancelled after opening day in fall  Fewer than 1% of the withdrawn students had all of their classes cancelled.

Fall 2014 Survey of Withdrawn Students Rationale  Withdrawn students are an under-studied population at CLC  Understanding student attrition can help to improve student success  Preventing student attrition can help offset declining enrollment Purpose  To better understand the reasons for student withdrawal.  To identify actions CLC can take to prevent student withdrawal in the future.

Survey Items 11 items  Major reasons for leaving CLC this semester (open ended)  Groups or individuals who influenced students’ decision to leave  Academic factors  Employment factors  Financial factors  Personal factors  Other factors  Main reason for leaving (closed ended)  Plan to return  What could CLC have done to prevent student from leaving  What can CLC do to help student re-enroll in the future

Survey Invitation College of Lake County Student Stop-Out Survey, Fall 2014 Dear ${m://FirstName}, We noticed that you are no longer enrolled at CLC this semester (fall 2014) and we would like to know what caused you to leave. Your experiences are important to us no matter when/why you left the college or if you plan on coming back! The information you share with us will help us better understand what we can do to help our students stay enrolled and be successful in meeting their educational goals. Please take 5 minutes to share your experience with us by clicking on the link below (please reply before November 21st): ${l://SurveyLink?d=Take%20the%20Survey} The information you give us will be confidential; identifying information will not be shared with your instructors, advisors, or other college staff and will not impact your grades or relationship with CLC in any way. If you have questions about this survey, would like to speak to someone about your experience, or would like information about coming back to CLC, please contact the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Planning and Research at or and you will be directed to someone who can help. Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experience at CLC! College of Lake

Survey Administration Distributed to students with valid home addresses in PeopleSoft (n=1,198) Ran for 2 weeks (November 6-21) with one reminder to non-respondents. Approximately 18% provided valid responses (n=215) No direct incentive to participate

Who are the Survey Respondents? DemographicsWithdrawn StudentsRespondents African American/Black12%8% Female56%71% Non-traditional Age51%72% College ReadinessWithdrawn StudentsRespondents Reading/Writing Ready86% (3% undetermined)91% (1% undetermined) Math Ready31% (8% undetermined)28% (6% undetermined)

Who are the Survey Respondents?

Why Did Students Leave? Major reasons for leaving (open-ended)  43% personal reasons  E.g. Health, family obligations, relocation  29% course-related  E.g. Disliked content or instructor, workload, class was cancelled  20% financial-related  E.g. Did not receive FA, did not understand policies/processes, could not afford tuition/fees/books  18% employment-related.  E.g. scheduling conflict, workload, lost job

Why Did Students Leave? Primary reasons for leaving  Personal  17% indicate unexpected family responsibilities  17% indicate a medical or mental health concern  19% decided they needed a break from college  Academic  14% indicate they could not get into the classes they needed/wanted.  14% were not satisfied with the instructor and 8% indicate the course material was not what they expected.  Financial  17% indicate they did not receive assistance with financial aid  15% said tuition and fees were too expensive; 13% said books/materials were too expensive  Employment  26% indicate a conflict between work and school schedules

What Could CLC Have Done? 34% of respondents indicate that they would have liked more student service assistance  Mostly, students would have liked financial aid assistance (e.g. completing forms and answering questions) 34% indicate there is nothing CLC could have done; leaving was due to personal circumstances 22% indicated improvements in class scheduling could have helped them stay enrolled (i.e. not cancelling their class, more options available)

What Can CLC Do to Re-enroll These Students? What percent of respondents do you think indicated they will or might return to CLC? What percent of the students who withdrew in fall 2014 do you think are currently enrolled for spring 2015?

What Can CLC Do to Re-enroll These Students? 35% requested financial assistance including help with financial aid, more time to pay tuition, lower tuition and fees, and better communication about college payment policies. 27% requested changes to class scheduling; primarily not cancelling classes or offering more options for cancelled classes. 22% seem to need some advising/counseling and 12% need some academic assistance (e.g. tutoring) 9% said there is nothing CLC can do, they will return once they resolve their personal issues.

Next Steps Strategic recommendations  Target dropped students for intervention/assistance (e.g. mailing lists, phone trees, advising)  Offer more information/assistance to students being dropped for non- payment Next steps for research  Continue administering withdrawn student surveys in spring and fall semesters  Identify whether differences exist based on semester  Conduct research that includes students dropped prior to opening day as well as those dropped during the term.  Determine how many dropped students end up at another institution (transfer)