South Carolina State uses e-mail to garner support for student retention

Greg Branch, assistant vice president for enrollment management, South Carolina State University, has discovered that simple e-mail messages can be an effective tool for building support among campus colleagues for the university's student-retention efforts. Branch shared this idea with attendees at a default-prevention/student-retention workshop co-sponsored by USA Funds^®.

Branch sends e-mails with the subject title "The E-M Office: Did You Know?" to inform faculty and staff about various issues and to answer concerns that they might have regarding retention, as well as marketing and recruitment. Branch uses e-mail to give his perspective on a variety of issues and to stress the need for academic schools and departments within the university to support the retention effort.

Some e-mails have been delivered as part of an effort to show the university community that enhancing student retention is a component in reaching the institution's enrollment targets. In those e-mails, Branch examined the pros and cons of increasing the size of new entering classes versus focusing on retention efforts. As Branch explained, "you don't have to recruit more and more if you retain what you have in the first place."

Rallying support for retention efforts
Branch keeps the e-mails brief and humorous, often using a contest format with a question and multiple-choice answers. For correct answers, he offers readers gag prizes, such as "a trip to the president's office" or "a pay raise - but you have to see the president."

"I find e-mails to be a very effective tool for communication purposes and to rally support across the university for what you're trying to do. I'd certainly recommend it among other tools an enrollment manager might use, especially for a first-timer," Branch said.

The e-mails, which Branch began in September 2001, spark feedback, suggestions and questions from the campus community. In response to recent discussions about how to achieve rapid enrollment growth at South Carolina State, Branch sent an e-mail asking faculty and staff for ideas. Forty percent of the responses Branch received were related to retention.

"We are formulating a cadre of facilitators across the institution who can share information at their department meetings or with their deans," said Branch.

Getting a variety of departments involved
Dwight Bailey, a faculty member within the university's school of business, is among that group of facilitators. When Bailey was relatively new on campus, he told Branch that the e-mails were informative and enlightening.

Bailey later was motivated to become the chairman of the retention subcommittee, which is a part of the university's marketing, recruitment and retention committee. The marketing, recruitment and retention committee includes a cross-section of academic and nonacademic personnel. Its retention subcommittee assists Branch in promoting the message that "retention is just as important as recruitment."

Branch's e-mails are just one component of what he described as a "developing comprehensive student-retention program." Last fall, South Carolina State University participated in its third student-satisfaction survey to ascertain student expectations and satisfaction levels. The results were presented to the school's cabinet and to the marketing, recruitment and retention committee.

Prior to Branch's appointment, the school's vice president for enrollment management position was vacant for eight years. Enrollment and retention issues received little attention. Branch's work and the student-satisfaction-survey presentations have sparked greater interest in retention efforts.

"From the cabinet level of the administration, there's been more talk about looking at retention across the board at the institution," Branch said.

Branch and Bailey are compiling a report for the deans and the cabinet on what the five academic schools are doing in regard to retention. They also are designing a model to monitor students' academic success.

Making the retention-default rate connection
Branch also notes that successful retention efforts can lead to in lower student-loan default rates. South Carolina State, one of the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), has an enrollment of 4,500 students and has posted default rates of less than 5 percent for the past two cohort years.

In early August, to coincide with the start of the new academic year, Branch sent an e-mail addressing campus-wide perceptions about the expected size of the entering class of students.

"I highly recommend the use of this important communications tool to both educate and inform other professionals in the university community, and, more importantly, to assist in the process of building and maintaining a university-wide base of support for the enrollment-management effort," said Branch.