The graduation gap

Graduating in May with a Bachelor in Science degree at Central Michigan University, Amanda Look will be part of the 21.7 percent of students that graduate in four years or less.

Since she arrived in 2012, Look, 21, took 15 to 18 credits per semester to complete her biomedical sciences major in four years. Since she entered college directly from high school, Look is included in the first-time freshman class statistics for federal reporting by the state. However, more than half of students that started in 2012 with Look could be part of the 57.4 percent that graduate in six years or less.

While not every student in college, can or will graduate, the majority of students who do graduate take longer than four years. Across four-year public institutions in the United States, students are more likely to graduate in six years, rather than four.

Complete College America, a non-profit organization that assists states in getting more students to graduate quicker, issued a report in December 2014 highly critical of the time and money that it takes the average student to actually get a degree.

“Most college students at public universities are starting to complete their bachelor’s degree in six years,” the group said in the report. “The reality is higher education costs too much, takes too long and graduates too few.”

Trying to significantly increase college completion and close attainment gaps, the group called on states in 2013 to look at the graduation data, the challenges facing students and to make clear commitments about how to change the numbers found in the data.

On Central’s campus, the university and the Office of Student Success that was created in 2013, are trying to improve the four-year graduation rate by creating and improving strategies to increase student success to achieve their academic and personal goals to graduate within four years. 

Whittemore-Prescott junior Shelby Karasch will be among the 57.4 percent that will graduate within six years at Central. Following her enrollment in 2012, Karasch struggled in her classes and as a result of that, her GPA was low and she was put on academic probation. After being required to write a letter to the university of how she was going to change and improve her grades, she was accepted back and required to take a course called Academic Empowerment.

“The class talked about ways to be a better student overall and the resources that Central provides to help students that are in similar situations that I was in,” Karasch said. “I didn’t take school seriously before that and it was kind of a wake up call having the realization that I wasn’t going to be out of here in four years.”

Initially going to school for athletic training, Karasch then switched her major to business after re-enrolling the next fall. While she was re-taking some of her classes, it was required of her to have a 2.5 GPA to get into the business program.

“It was really difficult for me to get my grades back up after I had a low GPA,” Karasch said. “I can definitely see why the six-year graduation rate is higher than four year, because stuff like this happens and now I’m just trying to catch myself back up.” 

The university is also implementing plans through Central’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) and the provost’s office. A plan was developed for the fiscal years from 2014-2016 to outline the development of the university’s overall technology environment. It also includes the goal of supporting the success of students and to provide better advising tools overall.

While some advising tools are already in place, others are still being implemented and worked on to carry them out. The Advising Workbench, for example, is Central’s online audit and program progress system, which is suppose to allow students to see all of their coursework and how all courses contribute to the requirements of their degree or program plan.

Jason Bentley, director of Office of Student Success, said that the Advising Workbench would eventually be able to provide advisers and students with additional information that they might need, whether it is class scheduling or advising help.

“One of the best ways to help somebody complete is to help them see a clear road map from the day (they) are starting at the university,” Bentley said. “Evolving technology basically gives you the roadmap and allows you to ask questions like, ‘What is the fastest route to graduate? What’s the most optimal route?

Increasing and expanding the technology of tools could help advisers work with students through ‘what-if’ scenarios and figure out the implications along with it. Whether it’s financially, the number of credits or courses the student needs to talk, or whether they are starting to get off track by not making progress. Expanding the Advising Workbench could eventually alert advisers that students need help or are starting to get off their four-year graduation track.

“(The technology) could prompt reminders to you about things you need to (be) thinking about or preparing two to three semesters in advance so that you’re ready for it when it happens,” Bentley said. “It’s both for (the student) to do some exploring, (and to) provide the right kind of information to advisers so that they can better support the students.”

Along with the Advising Workbench, staff and faculty also will have access to the Student Success Collaborative Campus online. This helps them identify opportunities for Central students in their degree requirements and allows for messaging. It also provides milestones to advisers if somebody may be off track for what they are intending to do for their major.

The toolset for students would eventually do the same thing as the SSC Campus. It would send reminders such as for academic advising and progress and would allow students to self-service for better convenience. While the Office of Student Success has already been looking for some of these indicators and reaching out to students in need, general advising isn’t quite there yet.

“The idea of rolling this toolkit forward would allow this to happen across the campus,” Bentley said. “The idea is all this gets to live together. When (we) can all see a more complete picture, (we) are better equipped to provide relevant, meaningful support.”

Michelle Howard, director of Academic Advising and Assistance, said that while meeting with general and college academic advisors are not required, the collaborative software can help alert advisers about struggling students while it is still time to make a difference.

“What we hope to work with when we have the SSC with the case management and the reporting tools that we will have is to analyze who we haven’t met with what, who did not take action in the invitation to meet with advisers, does that contribute or not contribute to how students are progressing,” Howard said.

In addition to expanding technology, the Office of Student Success also has success coaches to help students. The success coaches are available in each residential complex and in undergraduate colleges. Students who meet with success coaches work with them to develop a plan to increase personal and academic performance overall.

Chelsea Belote, assistant director for Success Coaching and Educational Initiatives, said that success coaches typically reach out to the students who are either off-track in courses or who may not be connected on campus.

“(They) meet with them one-on-one to help elicit change and promote some growth within the students,” Belote said. “So, looking at strengths in areas of challenge and figuring out a comprehensive plan to make sure that they’re able to get back on track to graduate hopefully in four or six years.”

The coaches typically make calls and reach out to students within the first four weeks of the semester. They try to reach out to the students that have been identified as possibly having an obstacle or being off track from the previous semester term. A goal that the coaches have for the students is for them to meet with them at least three times throughout a semester.

“It truly is about being coached and not just answering questions,” Belote said. “It’s not meant to be transactional, it’s meant to evolve over time with flexible and responsive support based on the aspirations and needs of each student.”

The success coaches also put on a series of events throughout the semester to help students as well. The events include a Climb the Mountain Series on Tuesday nights and Conversations with Coaches every other Wednesday that provides an opportunity to discuss ideas and create different approaches to support success throughout a semester.

While the Office of Student Success is continuing to implement different techniques to improve student success, Central is currently in the lower percentage for the four-year graduation rate. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) collects data at the federal level and shows that for four-year public universities, Central ranks close with schools such as Western Michigan University (23 percent) and Grand Valley (31 percent). However, for schools with a larger population such as Michigan State University and University of Michigan, these schools rank at 53 percent and 76 percent for a four-year graduation rate.

While ranking closely with some schools, Bentley said that they want to overall grow from 20 percent by the time that the end of the 2018 school year is reached to be 5 percent better overall in the number of students that graduate in four years.

“(We) show (students) the road map, help them make better decisions. Then start working on the curricular side to make sure the programs aren’t five or six year programs,” Bentley said. “We have to do the best to advise (students) and we have to show the actual pathway of what’s required for the course sequence to be optimized so that (they) can actually do it in four years.”

Although Central isn’t fully completed with working on improving technology, it’s something that could increase student’s success along with increasing the four-year graduation rate. While a toolset is being worked on to help students from when they come into orientation, Central is also working to review and enhance the overall process to help support students and their success.

“(We) provide support, help (students) make informed decisions, and evolve the curricular scope and sequencing to remove barriers,” Bentley said. “These all contribute to better four-year graduation rates.”