USA Funds supports student-retention efforts

Web resource helps campuses strengthen student-retention programs

INDIANAPOLIS — USA Funds®, the nation's leading education-loan guarantor, is offering the higher-education community a new resource to bolster student retention. "Solving the Retention Puzzle," a new feature on the USA Funds Web site provides guidance to postsecondary institutions about enhancing persistence and graduation rates, thereby contributing to lower student-loan default rates.

"All stakeholders in higher education benefit when students successfully complete their academic programs," said Carl C. Dalstrom, USA Funds president and CEO. "Research clearly shows that students who fail to graduate are at much higher risk for education-loan default. This new Web-based resource offers postsecondary institutions valuable tools to promote student success."

Developed in cooperation with Noel-Levitz, the nation's leading consultant to higher education on student retention, "Solving the Retention Puzzle" supplies higher-education administrators with advice about assembling the following four critical components of successful student-retention programs:

  • Institutional assessment, which helps the campus define itself based on qualitative and quantitative measures.
  • Student assessment, which helps campus administrators identify students likely to succeed and those likely to withdraw prior to graduation.
  • Institutional interventions, which help postsecondary institutions develop an infrastructure to promote student success.
  • Student interventions, which offer case studies of successful retention practices.

The Web feature provides the following additional resources:

  • An assessment tool that helps postsecondary institutions audit the current state of their student-retention efforts.
  • A step-by-step process for retention planning.
  • A list of other student-retention resources on the Web.
  • Links to a database of award-winning student-retention practices.

"Solving the Retention Puzzle" is part of a comprehensive USA Funds initiative designed to help postsecondary institutions boost persistence and graduation rates and prevent loan defaults. The Web feature is located in the "Financial-Aid Professionals" section of the USA Funds Web site under "Debt-Management Information."