College and University Expenditures in Addressing Patterns of Student Disengagement Ashley Finley, Dickinson College, BTtoP Lynn Swaner, Long Island University-CW Post

Common understanding of the problem Common understanding of how to fix the problem RESOURCES

To identify and itemize costs related to resources, personnel and programming used to address symptoms of student disengagement Gather information through campus collaboration Analyze aggregate data to identify, describe, and interpret trends over time (FY and FY )

Timeline: January 1, 2008 – September 8, 2008 Recruitment, instrument development, data collection, analysis, and final report Data entered onto secure website Sample of 9 schools Spans geographic location, number of students, institutional type & mission (see Carnegie Class. below) Carnegie Classification N% Arts111.1 Bac/AS: Baccalaureate Colleges-Arts & Sciences111.1 Baccalaureate Liberal Arts111.1 Doctoral; Research Intensive111.1 Masters L (Masters Colleges & Univ./Larger progs.)111.1 Masters S (Masters Colleges & Univ./Smaller progs.)111.1 Professional Art School111.1 RU/VH (Research Univ./Very high research activity)211.1

1. Institutional Data 2. Counseling and Psychological Services 3. Alcohol/Substance Abuse Prevention 4. Security/Emergency Services/Crisis Response 5. Civic Engagement 6. Engaged Learning Efforts 7. Student Activities/Residential Life 8. Institutional & Funded Research 9. Judicial Affairs 10. Insurance* 11. Legal Counsel* Types of allocations = Total operating budget, specific programming budgets, total # of staff, salaries, programming hours, # student participants, In-kind funding (any donated resources, i.e. volunteered time, donated money or other material resources)

Programmatic spending generally increased Related to direct responses to well-being (counseling, alcohol programming) Related to direct responses to outcomes (security services, judicial affairs) Demand for services has increased over time Staff has stagnated or declined

Engaged learning Wide variation in spending patterns Spending per student showed deficit spending or modest increase Indication that faculty training is increasing Civic engagement Substantial increases over time The good news about missing data?

Composite variable of average change across budget years related to resources central to engaged learning, civic engagement, mental health and alcohol/substance use Approximately 67.6% increase in spending over time Resource allocations by type of institution Private institutions in the sample spent more total $ but decreased spending by 5% between budget years vs. Public institutions spent less total $ but increased budget allocations to these areas by 15.4%

1) Budget accountability Build silos with glass walls 2) Programming & Staffing Scarcity is the mother of invention Use expertise as a basis for innovation 3) Assessing allocations as preventive & responsive measures What if programs built foundations that helped students help themselves/and others? Social support, fulfillment, engagement

Recruit Stakeholders Think beyond leaders to constituency leaders (including students) Recruit the dissenters Distribute ownership of programmatic development, practices and results Find what you do best What is the gem of your institutional culture/mission? What/where is the unique quality of your institutional backdrop upon which you can capitalize? Consider location, local community resources, student body Fuse new to old What is already working? Where are resources already going? Consider how existing programs can be expanded or used to catalyze new efforts.