Goal 6: Enrollment, Retention and Graduation Rate Gains

We will recruit, retain and graduate a diverse student body.

Objective 1: Strengthen efforts to recruit, educate, retain and graduate a diverse body of undergraduate students in four years.

Key Strategies:

Clearly distinguish MSU undergraduate program experiences from competitors through coordinated internal/external messages/communications according to a strategic media relations and advertising campaign.
Develop online, hybrid and flexible high-demand undergraduate programs to serve the diverse needs of current and prospective students.
Revise and update the Strategic Undergraduate Enrollment Management Plan based upon identified areas of growth.
Develop an Accelerated Degree Completion Plan with student incentives.
Expand, promote and document the undergraduate research/creative production experiences and mentorships.
Review scholarship opportunities and/or tuition discounting strategies to encourage retention and timely completion of degrees.

Objective 2: Strengthen the capacity of graduate and professional programs to recruit, educate and graduate a diverse body of graduate students.

Key Strategies:

Clearly distinguish MSU graduate program experiences from competitors through coordinated internal/external messages/communications according to a strategic media relations and advertising campaign.
Revise and update the Strategic Graduate Enrollment Management Plan based upon identified areas of growth.
Develop online, hybrid and flexible high demand graduate programs to serve the diverse needs of current and prospective students.
Examine the feasibility of competitive graduate tuition rates and setting differential program tuition rates based upon discipline.
Explore competitive graduate assistant stipend and tuition remission program.
Explore strategies to support completion of graduate degree programs.

Objective 3: Strengthen and integrate support services for a diverse student body.

Key Strategies:

Objective 4: Provide a student-centered environment that actively engages students in and out of the classroom.

Key Strategies:

Strengthen efforts to meet needs of residential and non-residential students.
Increase awareness and early participation in academic and non-academic student organizations.
Expand opportunities for students to participate in peer-mentoring activities.
Encourage faculty to expand opportunities for students to participate early in research, learning communities and service learning.
Increase freshmen and sophomore student participation in international and national experiences.
Explore scholarship or student employee models that encourage better engagement of students with faculty and staff.

Objective 5: Focus the University community on the need to support retention efforts.

Key Strategies:

Improve recognition of faculty, staff and students participating in activities that engage students in and out of the classroom
Evaluate the impact of General Education on student adjustment and explore options to improve.
Identify needs of first-year students and address through first-year experiences.
Explore strategies to recognize and reward units/programs who increase student retention.
Develop appropriate guidelines and support structure to meet customer service standards in all units.
Improve communication between advisor, faculty, parent/guardian and support staff with a focus on being more student-centered.

Objective 6: Close the gaps between identified groups and the majority of undergraduate students.

Key Strategies:

Identify and address risk factors for each of the gap groups.
Explore strategies to integrate or cross-train financial aid staff with student service centers staff.
Enhance programs that support preparation at the high school level.
Identify students in gap groups, and develop specific strategies to support them.

Objective 7: Strengthen efforts to recruit, retain and graduate transfer students.

Key Strategies:

Develop online, hybrid and flexible high-demand programs to serve the diverse needs of current and prospective transfer students.
Implement dual-enrollment program with all KCTCS schools that includes dual advising.
Update and manage articulation agreements and curriculum maps to facilitate transfer of KCTCS students.
Explore creative tuition models to attract transfer students.
Review program courses/requirements to determine if there are roadblocks for transfer students that can be removed.

Enrollment, Retention and Graduation Rate Gains: Key Performance Measures

Enrollment Growth:

Number of undergraduate students enrolled
Number of graduate students enrolled
Number of international students enrolled
Number of undergraduate underrepresented minority students enrolled
Number of graduate underrepresented minority students enrolled
Number of KCTCS transfer students enrolled (first-time transfer and number of students transferring credit in an academic year)
Number of underrepresented minority KCTCS transfer students enrolled
Total number of transfer students enrolled (number of first-time transfers in an academic year)

Retention:

Graduation Rates: