Clayton State University Campus Plan Update 2016

Undergraduate Total 

 6,587

Full-Time

55%

Part-Time

45%

Pell Recipients

62%

Dual Enrollment

9%

High-Impact Strategy

Advise students within a centralized structure that capitalizes on predictive data analytics to promote deeper student advisor connections and uses consistent advising practices.

Related Goal 

Implement intrusive advising that is informed by predictive data analytics to keep students on track to graduate.

Demonstration of Priority and/or Impact

Clayton State University has dedicated work to improve our graduation and retention rates.  Prior to summer 2015 academic advising was managed within each of the four colleges and majority done by faculty.  Centralizing advising for our undergraduate students permits us to use an intrusive advising model which has a great potential to impact students retention and graduation rates.  This is a high priority and high impact strategy as it addresses an immediate need for the potential to impact a significant student population.

Primary Point of Contact for This Activity

Name:  Eric Tack 

Title:  Director, Center for Advising and Retention 

Email:  EricTack@clayton.edu 

Summary of Activities

In January 2015 Clayton State University hired a Director of Advising to lead the implementation of the new advising model.  Prior to the 2015-2016 academic year advising was managed within the colleges with the majority of students being advised by faculty.   Plans were developed prior to the 2015-2016 year regarding the implementation of centralized advising to include staffing, organization, student communication, predictive analytics for at-risk students, and physical structure.  The staff consisted of 2 directors (equivalent to assistant directors in the new Center for Advising and Retention), 1 assistant director, and 13 academic advisors (4 full-time with part-time advising responsibilities).

During the 2015-2016 year, the Center for Advising and Retention (CAR) has been formed into a formal office with a staff of 1 director, 5 assistant directors, and 13 academic advisors (all with full-time advising responsibilities).  The CAR has developed a communication's strategy utilizing EAB's Student Success Collaborative software as well as the use of the software's at-risk predictive analytics.  Additionally, the CAR has been brought together in one office structure located in a centralized location on campus. 

Measure of Progress and Success

Metric/data element

Clayton State University will be utilizing the number of student visits to the CAR, IPEDS cohort retention rates, and re-registration rates to assess the outcome of this strategy.

Baseline measure

Student visits to the CAR – There is no baseline data prior to fall 2015. 

IPEDS Cohort Retention Rate

            Re-registration Rate

Interim Measures of Progress

Student visits to the CAR – In fall 2015 the CAR had 4,199 in person student visits and 7,847 student updates (this figure includes phone call and email advising). 

IPEDS Cohort Retention Rate

Re-registration Rate

Measures of Success

The results and baseline data are not enough at this point to determine an appropriate measure of success for this initiative.  This initiative will continue to be a high impact strategy.

Lessons Learned

The establishment of the CAR has been beneficial for the students, staff, and faculty.  During the establishment of the CAR we have had to work through a variety of challenges such as training, managing caseloads, development and buy-in of a communications strategy, communication among colleges and advisors, and a full review of our degree works program in light of an established manual process to track degree program completion.  In order to address these concerns and others that may come up we continue to bring together stakeholders within the university to gather support in developing solutions to the continued effort to implement an intrusive advising model.  More importantly the centralization of advising has created a campus focus on retention strategies, online course offerings, and ensuring the appropriate classes are being offered to assist students towards completion of their degree.

High-Impact Strategy

Participation in dual enrollment or joint enrollment programs for high school students from local counties.

Related Goal 

Shorten time to degree completion through programs that allow students to earn college credit while still in high school and by awarding credit for prior learning that is verified by appropriate assessment.

Demonstration of Priority and/or Impact

Clayton State University dual enrollment program has served Henry, Clayton, and Fayette Counties.  Enrollment from Fayette county has made up the most significant portion of participants.  By reorganizing the dual enrollment support structure we will have the ability to significantly impact the potential dual enrollment students within Henry and Clayton Counties.  This is a high priority and impact as it will have a significant impact on our dual enrollment participants.

Primary Point of Contact for This Activity

Name:  Dr. Jarrett Terry

Title:  AVP for External Programs

Email:  JarrettTerry@clayton.edu

Summary of Activities

The dual enrollment program has been active for over six years.  In 2012, the university began a concerted and focused effort to increase the number of dual enrolled students through collaborative efforts with the local high schools.  Prior to 2015 we had a manager and 1.5 staff assigned to work on recruiting and advising Dual Enrollment students.  In 2015-2016 we assigned MOWR advisors to Henry, Fayette, and Clayton County.  The three staff have been able to recruit and advise MOWR students while also educating high school staff regarding the funding changes which took place in 2015.  Enrollment has shown increases each year with the fall 2016 term resulting in 778 students.  This is an increase of 20.8% over fall 2015.  Another significant goal has been to focus on the credit hour completion rate of MOWR students through their assigned roles as advisors.

Measure of Progress and Success

Metric/data element

We are using the credit hour completion rate for first semester MOWR students as a measure of success for this strategy.

Baseline measure

For the fall term we enrolled 490 new MOWR students, attempting a total of 3,400 credit hours, and earning 3,262 credit hours.  This is a completion rate of 96%.  The fall 2014 new dual enrollment students was 415 students, attempting 2,918 credits, and earning 2,864 credit hours for a completion rate of 98%.  Historical rates are below.

Interim Measures of Progress

Table 1 below displays the total completion rate from fall 2011 through fall 2015. 

Table 1:  Credit Hour Completion Rates for New DE/MOWR Fall Students

Measures of Success

Based on the significant completion rate of 96% this measure indicates we have been successful. 

Lessons Learned

The completion rate of MOWR students is excellent.  Even with a restructure the rate could not have been significantly impacted due to the high percentage.  This suggests that advisors will be able to focus more significantly on the conversion of MOWR students into matriculated Clayton State University students.  We will continue to monitor completion rates for MOWR students but this strategy will no longer be a high-impact strategy.

High-Impact Strategy

Graduate Sooner - Increase the number of new fall starts enrolling in 15+ credit hours per term and the number of students enrolling in the summer term.

Related Goal 

Shorten the time to degree completion.

Demonstration of Priority and/or Impact

Clayton State University new students have historically enrolled in less than 15 credits per term.  The path to completing a degree on time requires students to take 15+ credit hours per term.  Focusing on increasing the percentage of students enrolling in 15+ credit hours per term has the ability to significantly impact a signifciant number of students. 

Primary Point of Contact for This Activity

Name:  Stephen Schultheis

Title:  AVP Enrollment Management 

Email:  StephenSchultheis@clayton.edu

Summary of Activities

Prior to the 2015-2016 academic year a portion of the academic advisors encouraged students to enroll in 15+ credit hours per term.  During the 2015-2016 academic year we gathered staff and faculty support to promote students enrolling in 15+ credit hours.  This was done through the use of institutional data, communication to the student body through a centralized Graduate Sooner message during orientaiton and throughout the year (presentations in the classrooms, residence halls, information tables, student leadership council, and student government) and most significantly through advising within our newly formed Center for Advising and Retention office.  In addition to the push to have students enroll in 15+ credits we pushed enrollment in the summer term as a contibutor to graduating on time.  In a study of our fall 2008 new students we learned that students who attended the summer graduated at a rate of 64% while students who never attended a summer term graduated at a rate of 7%.

Measure of Progress and Success

Metric/data element

We are using the percentage of fall new undergraduate students enrolling in 15+ credit hours per term.  As the push to enroll students in the summer term as a contributor toward graduating on time is a newer strategy we are continuing to determine the metric we will use beyond undergraduate summer enrollment counts.  We will note that our summer headcount enrollment did increase 12.2%.

Baseline measure

Percentage of Fall New Undergraduate Students Distributed by Active Credits

Interim Measures of Progress

Measures of Success

The results and baseline data are not enough at this point to determine an appropriate measure of success for this initiative.  This initiative will continue to be a high impact strategy.

Lessons Learned

The strategy to increase active credit hours among our fall new undergraduate students has presented some challenges to work through.  Some of those challenges are in regards to misconceptions regarding student performance based on enrolled credits, institutional policies, and the financial cost associated for students to increase their credit hours.  We anticipate this initiative will have an impact on increasing credit hours for our upper classmen and will continue to be a high impact strategy.