USA Funds^®, the nation’s leading education-loan guarantor, and Noel-Levitz, the nation’s largest retention consulting firm, have partnered to help campuses address one of the primary reasons students default on their loans — they drop out before completing their studies. Research conducted by USA Funds and Noel-Levitz consistently shows that as the number of terms that a student attends college increases, the likelihood that the student will successfully repay a student loan also increases.

The purpose of Solving the Student Retention Puzzle is to provide campus administrators with resources and a greater sense of urgency to act on student-retention rates and loan-default rates simultaneously. This online resource is designed to guide campus staff through the assessment of retention practices and identify immediate opportunities for improvement in student-success rates. This improvement, in turn, will promote reduced loan-default rates.

This online feature is the product of USA Funds’ initiative, Best Practices in Student Retention, which is designed to help campuses improve student retention and reduce their default rates.