With the spring semester approaching, IU Southeast is implementing several different ideas to help make the student’s academic life on campus a little easier to manage, in addition to addressing the issue of student attrition.
Registration for spring classes has been open since Nov. 14, but many classes are beginning to fill-up quickly. Because student dropout is worse between students’ first and second years, IU Southeast is test piloting follow-up courses to the First-Year Seminar courses.
Brittany Hubbard, director of Financial Aid and interim Registrar, said the follow-up courses are to help keep students engaged and be active in their studies, while providing resources to help with issues they may face in the second semester.
“Although the [FYS] courses may not be the most popular with the students, data shows they are effective,” Hubbard said.
The purpose of the FYS I course is to help new students acclimate to their new environment as college freshmen, giving them strategies in adjusting to the academic demands of college.
After a student’s initial adjustments, the follow-up FYS II course will focus primarily on academic planning skills relating to long-range educational and career planning in their second term of college. It will also address additional needs that may have surfaced for the
student which are not being addressed. One of the main goals at IU Southeast is to continue to build on the enrollment numbers each year. The IUS persistence rate — a measure of how many students return from fall to spring semester — has been increasing, which means the university is retaining more students.
Anne Skuce, director of Admissions and vice chancellor for Enrollment Management, said their numbers report the students who have persisted from one semester or one academic year to the next.
“In 2008, our persistence rate was 61 percent, in 2009 it was 63 percent, and, in 2010, our persistence rate was 65 percent,” Skuce said. “This means that of the students who enrolled in 2010, 65 percent were still enrolled in the fall of 2011.”
Although enrollment numbers continue to rise every year, in 2011, 1,461 classes were offered, while, for 2012, 1,466 classes are being offered. These numbers do not include courses available through the Indiana College Network.
Skuce said IU Southeast will not know the persistence rate until the next semester begins.
“Students who do register during early registration typically have better luck getting the classes they need,” Skuce said, “and at a time that is convenient for them.”
By STEVE NICHOLS
Staff
stevnich@ius.edu
