12 Effective Student Retention Strategies To Implement In 2023

Losing students now and again is not feasible for any educational institution. Dissertation of students is a menace, causing havoc in the education industry. Students waste thousands of dollars or are burdened with huge debt when they enroll in college. Once they dissert their studies, they have to deal with the debt without hiked earning capacity college graduates attain.

In addition, your institutions don’t benefit from students leaving their education mid-way either, as institutions make heavy investments to bring in as many students as possible. To cope with this situation, educational institutions are resorting to student retention by any means feasible.

This article will enlighten the factors affecting student retention and proven retention strategies that will be useful for an institution. Let’s delve in to get a detailed understanding.

What Is Student Retention?

In simple terms, student retention in an institution that can keep students enrolled from the first semester to the end of their academic program.

More specifically, student retention is the proportion of students who continuously enroll themselves in the institution they are enrolled in from the very beginning. So student retention definition varies from person to person.

Student retention is measured in two ways: one is from the student’s perspective and another from the institution’s perspective. As per the students, high retention means they are getting a good experiential learning, and goals determined by them are being met.

Considering the university’s perspective for high retention, students are satisfied with the assistance and engaging environment.

Why Is Student Retention In Higher Education Important?

Retention in school is not as essential as in colleges or institutions providing higher education. Retention in education is a basic requirement nowadays, as the dropout ratio among students is increasing like wildfire, especially during and after the pandemic. 

Students are keen to start earning and divulge themselves into money-making activities as advertised by the so-called influencers on social media. These activities distract students from education, and eventually, they drop out. Apart from that, there are several other aspects due to which students stop studying, which will be discussed later in this blog.

The increasing number of dropouts concerns both students and institutions. For students, the major effect of dropout is their earning capacity gets limited, and they don’t get opportunities that college graduates receive. It affects an institution’s two major aspects, i.e., revenue and reputation, on which educational institutions rely.

Effective student retention can be done by understanding the issues faced by the students and offering them appropriate resolutions for concerning factors that force a student to leave. With this approach, institutions can ensure better student retention, i.e., from admission to graduation. This requires effective educational management.

Mainly retention is required for college students, as there is a downfall in college student retention rate post-pandemic, especially in community colleges, as student resources and support services are not effectively provided.

So to gain control over the situation, some student retention strategies have to be framed and applied to revamp the diminishing importance of education among students and generate more revenue. 

Factors Affecting Student Retention

To create effective retention strategies, educational institutions must clearly understand the factors that motivate students to leave the institution. Once these factors are properly identified, deploying an effective strategy and getting the desired outcomes will be easy. Below are the factors that affect student retention.

1. Academic Issues

Students who cannot perform academically are likelier to drop out of college. There are several factors, like unwillingness to study, strenuous courses, ineffective time management, etc., for which students struggle to cope with academics. The institution must provide adequate support concerning this issue.

2. Financial Instability

This is one of the main reasons students find it difficult to continue their education effectively. Also, all the students are not liable to get scholarships and financial aid. As it seems affordability is the reason that affects the retention of students.

3. Social Challenges

Students must be provided with a proper environment where they can socialize, conduct or participate in some extracurricular campus activities. This act of an institution boosts their self-esteem by giving them a sense of belongingness. With these practices, social challenges can be toned down considerably.

4. Lack of Accessibility

Most of the time, students are unable to connect with their teachers for their academic needs. Due to this, their issues remain unsolved, and eventually, they lose interest in learning. Also, they feel isolated and unimportant, which makes the retention process tough.

5. Engagement Issues

This is also an essential factor that causes students to be distant from education. If the students can’t engage effectively in learning activities, sooner or later, they are going to get bored, and this will directly reflect on their performance. With this issue, they won’t be able to continue their education.

6. Unclear Vision

Most of the time, students don’t have a clear vision of what they want to pursue. As a result, they tend to make wrong decisions in opting for the courses, and then they prefer a different course mid-way. Which not only wastes money but adversely affects their heydays. This creates a negative impact on their future.

7. Personal Issues

Many other personal issues, like health, family, work, etc., affect student retention. If the students feel overwhelmed and proper solutions are not offered, they will likely leave their studies.

Strategies For Improving Student Retention In Higher Education

Framing effective student retention strategies is important for institutions to control the rising dropout rate among students. The strategies’ main aim would be to resolve the factors affecting retention and enhance engagement effectively.

1. Determine Student Success

Once the goals, objectives, and success they would be able to attain post their studies are made clear to the students, they will be motivated to learn. If the students are given a clear blueprint, it will be easier to follow the pathway and get the desired results.

2. Effective Progress Tracking

Allowing students to track their progress will keep them focused on their studies. Providing them with a to-do list or comprehensive guide to plan their studies will make it easy to keep track of their progress and guarantee their success.

3. Increased Interaction

An orientation session must be organized for students before they join the institution. To assist them in connecting and initiating building relationships with classmates, teachers, student leaders, etc. This approach will also help students better understand the culture and services offered on campus and, most importantly, start bonding with the campus community. This will not make them feel isolated and will boost their confidence.

4. Introduce Support Programs

As students enroll in an institution for a long term, like 4-5 years, a sense of belongingness is most important. So the institutions must take initiatives like building different communities and introducing several support programs to strengthen their bond with other students and provide them with required assistance when required.

5. Increase Involvement

Besides in-class engagement activities, institutions must conduct extracurricular activities like organizing fairs and events to enhance engagement. Several campus management software are available, and implementing them will enable institutions to organize and manage such events effectively. This will enrich the student experience, eventually increasing the retention rate.

6. Offer Scholarships and Other Financial Assistance

The main reason student retention takes a hit is the non-provision of adequate scholarships and placements. Students mainly join reputed institutions to get good carrier opportunities in the future. But if students don’t come across such opportunities, they observe massive psychological pressure. Assurance regarding placement post-education will be the deal breaker in increasing the retention rate.

7. Build Rapport With Parents

A high student retention rate depends on student success, which is feasible with effective monitoring. Keeping their parents in the loop of every activity and progress will maintain their academic engagement.

8. Develop Intervention Plan

An intervention plan must be introduced for students who cannot cope with their studies for any reason whatsoever. In these interventions, the students’ issues must be discussed in detail, and an appropriate solution must be offered. This will elevate the student experience and connect students effectively with their mentors.

9. Collect Retention Data

The institution must have accurate figures regarding its retention ratio. With these statistics, the institution can determine whether its strategies are successful enough in increasing retention. If not, it can make necessary amendments to make it effective. This is how educational organizations will be able to achieve a high student retention rate.

10. Get Regular Feedback

Institutions must take regular feedback from students on what problems they encounter, whether they require any support, etc. Effective steps must be taken on the feedback and make the grievance resolution processes more streamlined. Feedback can be taken in several forms filling up online forms, in a questionnaire format, one-on-one feedback, conducting surveys, etc.

11. Assessing Student Requirements

Understanding students’ requirements is the main aspect of increasing the retention rate. Students who feel supported and their requirements are fulfilled are less likely to leave the institution, eventually increasing student retention rates and leading to higher graduation rates.

12. Schedule Flexibility

Students nowadays prefer flexible study patterns that don’t increase stress and hamper their focus. As noticed, stressed-out students don’t tend to complete their education. So effective stress management strategies must be implemented.

Institutions nowadays rely on several online school management system and student retention software to automate their processes and improve student retention.

The Future of Student Recruitment

Student recruitment is gaining popularity these days. Student recruitment means finding prospective students and alluring them to enroll in institutional courses. Institutions aim to enroll the best-qualified students to generate good revenue and enhance their reputation. It combines marketing and communication techniques to attract students and get the highest conversion rates. 

So, it is marketing the programs provided by the institution, campus services, campus life, events and campaigns conducted, support, and opportunities provided. These aspects will make the institution more reliable and improve the student retention rate.

Final Words

To sum it up, student retention and recruitment are phenomena that educational institutions highly look up to for retaining and enrolling students and apply several strategies for the same. It will be highly beneficial for the institution if these strategies and processes are followed religiously. Students will find the institution supportive and the learning environment engaging, so the chances of leaving the education will diminish exponentially.

Hence, student retention and recruitment are the knights in the shining armor of educational institutions.