Advanced Technology Environmental and Energy Center

RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION 

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44 Supplementary Resources 
Retention 
Two-year colleges face significant challenges in the struggle to keep students beyond the first one 
or two trial courses. Students attend courses for a number of reasons such as social expectations, 
personal ambitions, peer or parental pressure, career changes, certification issues, etc. Students 
tend to span a wider range of age and economic groups than traditional four-year college 
students. Therefore, two-year institutions serve an extremely heterogeneous population. They 
are expected to provide a wide range of opportunities to a very diverse group of students. 
Meeting this range of diverse needs requires a strategic retention plan. According to Noel-Levitz, 
Inc., which has studied recruitment and retention for 37 years, the development of a 
Successful 
Retention Plan
requires six steps: 
1.
Set the stage by obtaining a three-year commitment from the board and administrators. 
2.
Establish retention priorities and formulate goals. 
3.
Integrate retention goals with existing programs and services. 
4.
Evaluate retention outcomes with data, exit interviews, and program reviews. 
5.
Prepare realistic retention timelines and action plans. 
6.
Recognize, reward, and celebrate student success. 
Common components of a strategic retention plan include individualized academic advising, 
mentoring and tutoring, risk management counseling, internal and external community 
networking, and job placement services. (For more information, also see Student Support 
Services in the next section.) 
An example of a retention plan can be viewed at the New Mexico State University-
Alamogordo website at 
http://nmsua.edu/documents/Student-Retention-Plan09-14.pdf
.
A PowerPoint presentation on retention is available from the University of Missouri-Kansas 
City at 
http://www.cas.umkc.edu/docs/Retention%20Presentation%202-11.pptx
.