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:
- Provide one-stop student services on all campuses and online delivery.
- Review staffing/structure for regional campuses.
- Provide IT infrastructure to address campus needs.
- Develop a continuous improvement plan for college student services centers.
- Develop an organization and processes for continuing education.
- Identify and align all student support services/resources across campus.
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:
- GRS Cohort: Retention rate of FTFR students cohort group
- GRS Cohort: Retention rate of FTFR students admitted with developmental needs
- GRS Cohort: Retention rate of FTFR students in low income group
- GRS Cohort: Retention rate of underrepresented FTFR students
- GRS Cohort: Retention from 2nd to 3rd year (include URM)
- GRS Cohort: Retention from 3rd to 4th year (include URM)
- Net direct cost
- Average ACT score of incoming freshmen
Graduation Rates:
- 4, 5 and 6-year graduation rate of bachelor’s degree seeking students
- Graduation rate for associate degree-seeking students
- Bachelor’s graduation rate gap - low income
- Bachelor’s graduation rate gap - underprepared
- Bachelor’s graduation rate gap - underrepresented minority