The Bridge

Student Affairs Programs Make Big Impact on Retention

Rey Monzon, director of Student Testing, Research and Assessment, along with his staff, has spent the last year developing a “culture of evidence” by analyzing data to show the real impact that our programs and services have on students. Intuitively, we all know that our services make a difference, but now we have the data to back it up.

Just to highlight a few:

New Student Orientation

Students who attend orientation have a higher success rate than those who do not. Quite simply, students who did not attend orientation were more likely to have lower grade point averages and less likely to continue to their second year. The data also confirmed that parental support is key. Students who brought a parent or guest to orientation had higher GPAs and were more likely to continue to their second year than those students who attended orientation alone.

Fall-to-Fall Retention

Orientation Participation	Fall 2005 to Fall 2006 retention rate
Did Not Attend	73.9%
Attended Without Guest	78.2%
Attended with 1 or More Guest	81.5%

First Semester (Fall 2005) and First Year (Fall 2005 – Spring 2006) Performance

Orientation Participation	Cumulative GPA
	1st semester	1st year
Did Not Attend	2.43	2.47
Attended Without Guest	2.52	2.55
Attended with 1 or More Guest	2.72	2.75

Residential Education

Academic success rates are much higher for students living in the residence halls, and are even higher for those residence hall students who are live in learning communities (LC). This was borne out by data that compared academic probation rates.

Fall 2006 – Students Placed On Academic Probation

Residence	On Academic Probation
Off Campus	27.5%
Residence Hall	12.3%
Maya/Olmeca LC	10.6%
Toltec LC	8.5%

Academic Probation Students Who Were Disqualified (by end of Spring Semester)

Residence	Disqualified
Off Campus	49.6%
Residence Hall	34.9%
Learning Communities	30%

Look for more information on the impact of Student Affairs programs and services in future issues of The Bridge as Monzon and his office continue assessment in our culture of evidence.