Dodge City Community College Credits USA Funds Life Skills With Gains in Attendance, GPAs

A financial-aid adviser at Dodge City Community College credits her school’s use of USA Funds^® Life Skills^® with freshmen for helping to raise attendance rates and grade-point averages this past semester.

The financial-aid adviser, Lani Hayselden, and Jane Holwerda, professor of English composition, presented information from the USA Funds financial-literacy program’s Module 3, “Work Hard But Smart — How to Be Successful in School and Graduate on Time,” during a two-day orientation session for first-year students. Approximately 400 students attended one of the four hour-long sessions during Conq Camp — named for the school’s mascot, the Conquistador — held for two days before fall-semester classes began.

At Dodge City Community College, students must present verification of attendance, which includes information about their grades, to receive education loans. Hayselden says that this semester, unlike in the past, no students have been denied their loans based on attendance or grades.

“In the past we’ve had issues with attendance,” Hayselden explains. “I feel confident that, in part, the higher attendance rates and grade-point averages had to do with what students learned through USA Funds Life Skills. In particular, the focus on getting to know your instructors and study skills seemed to help. Module 3 is really the best choice for our campus.”

Hayselden and Holwerda used two Module 3 student-workbook activities about stressors and living on campus to engage students, and handed out raffle tickets as an incentive to participate in the sessions and the activities. They awarded five prizes from the school bookstore during each session. Students also received a CD with activities such as how to develop a budget.

“In their evaluations, the students really responded to the activities, and the information was well received,” Hayselden says. “We also broke them into small groups, which gave them an opportunity to talk about the things that are stressing them out. We made it more comfortable for them and it helped everybody get involved.”

Hayselden learned about USA Funds Life Skills when she participated in a USA Funds Train-the-Trainer session. Once back on the Dodge City, Kan., campus following the session, Hayselden arranged a meeting with admissions and financial-aid staff to discuss how they could best use the financial-literacy program. They agreed that using the first five modules — all of which target undergraduate students — would be ideal, but the group decided on a condensed version of Module 3 because it fit with their students’ needs so well. The issues on which they chose to focus included study skills, getting to know the faculty, making contacts, stressors and debt management.

Dodge City Community College also has offered Module 7, “Connect as a Couple — Confronting Relationship Challenges Together” and Module 8, “Take Stock — Devising a Realistic Financial Plan,” in a two-hour presentation to the school’s adult students. USA Funds developed these two modules for graduate and professional students and adult learners. Hayselden focused on how students can better their lives by dealing with stressors, debt management, and balancing work, school and family.

The community college offers two-year associate-degree programs. About 70 percent of the college-bound students who graduate from the local high school enroll at Dodge City Community College. Because of its rural location, Dodge City Community College has residence halls — unlike most community colleges. Students who live on the campus deal with issues that many students at other community colleges do not experience.
 
In an effort to better prepare potential students and address retention, Hayselden and the school’s Educational Talent Search office are planning to offer information from the first five modules of USA Funds Life Skills to local graduating high-school seniors next May. The presentation, to be held five evenings over a five-week period, will focus on what to expect at college, budgeting and personal-finance issues. Hayselden also hopes to offer mini-classes to groups of 20 to 25 freshmen next year.

To learn more about USA Funds Life Skills, contact your debt-management consultant.