Degree Progress Information Overload for Advisers Frank Blalark, Director, Registrar's office Sue...
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Transcript of Degree Progress Information Overload for Advisers Frank Blalark, Director, Registrar's office Sue...
Degree Progress
Information Overload for Advisers
Frank Blalark, Director, Registrar's office
Sue Van Voorhis, Director, Academic Support Resources
Background
Started with strategic planning 2007
Goal
Become one of the Top Three Public Research University in the World
Four ways - Exceptional students, faculty and staff, organization, innovation
Comparison group - The Ohio State, Penn State, UC - Berkeley, UC - Los Angeles, U of Florida, University of Illinois, U of Michigan, U of Texas-Austin, U of Washington-Seattle, U of Wisconsin-Madison
Regents Goal
Undergraduate students:60% Undergraduates graduate in 4 years
70% Undergraduates graduate in 5 years
80% Undergraduates graduate in 6 years
Graduate students:
Increase graduate graduation rates.
by spring 2012 - F08 NHS cohort
Rates graph
What needed to occur?
Transformation:
Transforming the Undergraduate Experience:
Strategic Positioning Initiatives
o Create Honors collegeo Increase writing curriculumo Enhance Student Support Services
Focus on outcomes:
• Learning outcomeso Created and implementation in progress
• Personal developmental outcomeso Responsibility, accountability, independence, goal
oriented, self-confident, resilient
• Council on Liberal Educationo Implemented
Guiding principles
• Focus is on students and their success
• An array of resources and learning opportunities that enable students to exercise responsibility for their learning and success
• The critical value and importance of diversity in guiding policies and strategies that promote student success at the University
• An undergraduate experience that is second to none and based on research and scholarship
Increase in:
• Number of applicants
• Size of the freshman class
• Quality of the freshman class
• Percent of entering students who are students of color
• Percent of freshmen in the top 10% of their high school class
• Percent of freshmen living on campus
• Percent satisfied or very satisfied with their university experience
Impact of change:
• University Honors - draw more top-ranked Minnesota students
• Cooperative admissions with professional schools - retention of students
• Welcome Week - more engaged
• Financial aid programs - afordability
• Increase research opportunities - retention
Additional positive factors:
Smart Learning Commons
Study Abroad
Student Study Space
CAPE (Center for Academic Planning & Exploration)
Residential Learning Communities
President's Emerging Scholars
Pathways to increasing rates:
Students will be better supported to meet
their educational goals and graduate in a
timely way, through:
• Improved advising services
• Better coordinated career services
• Targeted assistance for students in transition
• Better technological support for students and advisers (Grad Planner, Student Engagement Planner, Student Portal)
Policy changes
• Honors students
• Last term of registration
• Repeating courses
• Curriculum changes to a majoro Oversighto Timing of change
Educating the University
Set expectations for
Advisers, faculty, staff and students
• Impacts of not graduating in 4 years
o Financial aid is restricted - 6 years for Pello State programs are mostly tied to 4 yearso Longer they stay the more they brower
60% in 5 years versus 75% in 6 years (UMN) $24,000 versus $27,500 borrowed
o Reduce lifetime earnings the longer they stay
The Big Picture
ECAS Electronic Course Authorization System
• Create a new course
• Update a current course
• Approval workflow process o Instructoro Collegeo Liberal Educationo Graduate Schoolo Catalog Edito CCEo PeopleSoft entry
ECAS
PCAS
Program and Curriculum Approval System
• Comprehensive database of all the requirements needed to complete each degree program
• Approval system the route changes or new programs to approvers
• Used for the Graduation Planner
PCAS: Sample Plans
PCAS: Checkpoint Charts
PCAS: Checkpoint Charts
APLUS
• Gives advisers one location to view current, detailed information about a student
• Enable more timely communication with students and faster resolution of issues
• Ensure that pertinent information about a student, including advising notes, follows the student across the campus
APLUS
Graduation Planner
Giving students and advisers the information they need to plan for timely graduation.
Bring together everything about:
Students
Programs and majors
Courses
Graduation Planner
Curriculum
Three buckets:
Liberal Education requirements 35 credits
Major requirements
Electives
Electives toward the degree
Excess Electives
**Double dipping of courses
Curriculum (catalog)
How many credits to earn a degree - 120?
• 91.5% of undergraduate programs require 120 credits for degree completion
• 8.5% of undergraduate programs require more o range: 122 - 129 creditso max 129 credits
2005-06 Average Total Credits at Time of Graduation
Actual credits
Degree Audit
Average degree progress after 3 years
ReportingFocus
• 4-year graduation rateo New high school o First-time full-time
• Administrative barriers to degree completiono deadlines, internal business processes, system
errors, etc.
• Students who haven't by should have:o applied to graduate; and/oro graduated
ReportingData
• Graduation rate cohort datao Grad rate cohort (year and student ID's)
• SIS datao college, major, etc.
• Degree audit datao degree progress percentage complete
Report
• MS excel format
• Sent to collegiate contacts 3 times per year
Analysis
Results from Office of the Registrar data analysis, reports, and communication with collegiate units.
• OTR direct impact on 4-year grad rateso 2006 - 0.39% increaseo 2007 - 1.10% increaseo 2008 - 0.67% increase
Analysis
Analysis
Notable findings:• Artificially suppressed graduation rates
o missed application deadlineso student applied to graduate for the wrong termo student was not sure whether or not they wanted to
graduate
• Policy impactso Changes to backdating degree practiceso University Honors program practices
impact of thesis completion requirement
• Increase in collegiate engagement
NAS Data Demand!
New demand for NAS data
• number of transfers by college
• average number of transfer credits by college
• status by year (total, active, complete, discontinue, leave of absence)
AnalysisFaster not more!
• 2000 - 2007: 21.4% increase in 4-year graduation rate
• However...o 4-year graduation rate increasing faster than 5-
and 6-year graduation rateo relatively small increases in graduation rate post
6-yearso relatively small increases in total number of
degrees produced compared to total number of undergraduate students.
A Complex System...
Results:
Next Steps
• Hit 60% for 4 year rate in 2013
• Analyze the 42% that didn't graduate in 4 years
• Research and increase 6 year rate
• Investigate degree completion totals
• Formalize curriculum committee
• Increase transfer student graduation rates