Retention
rate high at CSULB
By
Renee Lemus
Daily Forty-Niner
Cal
State Long Beach ranks among the highest
in freshman retention compared with other
universities in the California State University
system, making CSULB students more likely
to attain a college degree than those at
any other CSU.
Simon
Kim, senior director for advising and retention
at CSULB was asked two months ago to asses
the university’s progress in retention
and graduation. Kim’s findings concluded
that “CSULB retention and graduation
rates are better or, at least comparable
to those of peer public institutions.”
According
to the statistics he found, from 1999 to
2001 there was a decrease in one-year retention
rates from 83 percent to 78 percent. Kim
said he attributes this decrease to the
university’s policy that requires
students to complete remedial math and English
courses within one year. However, he went
on the say that in 2002 there was an increase
in retention due to the university implementing
an impaction for the freshman class, meaning
that the university would be more selective
about who is admitted.
Kim
also said he attributes some of the retention
success to the “range of academic
advising programs and support services.”
One
such support service is the Learning Alliance,
which is a two-year program established
to help incoming freshman with their transition
from high school to college. They achieve
this by offering “academic assistance
and continuous personal support, which directly
impacts student’ in-class and out-of-classroom
learning experiences,” according to
the Learning Alliance.
Bron
Pellissier, director of the Learning Alliance,
said the alliance is a learning community
whose main objective is to help students
find their place in college. In the two-year
program the alliance helps students get
on track by pairing up classes so as to
create groups of students that take classes
together and essentially make each other
feel comfortable in college. Pellissier
said that according to the surveys, the
No. 1 thing students say is that in the
Learning Alliance they met a friend that
made them feel like they belong.
“Sixty-seven
percent of Learning Alliance students go
on to graduate in five years or less,”
Pellissier said.
He
said he feels that the alliance and other
such learning communities “greatly
affect retention.” He mentioned other
groups such as Student Access to Science,
Athlete Student Services and Honors Program
that assist students in their college planning
and give them the guidance to continue their
education.
In
fall of 2000, the College of Liberal Arts
implemented a program called Beach Beginnings
that essentially does the same as the Learning
Alliance but is offered to all students
unlike the alliance where students have
to be recruited
and apply. Pellissier is also in charge
of this program and said “out of 1,400
students in the first year, only 11 dropped.”
This will be the first year that these students
are set to graduate, Pellissier said, “wee
will see what the outcome is.”
CSULB
also offers University 100, which is a class
that is intended to teach students about
the resources on campus. In this class,
students also learn about study habits that
can help them in their other classes. The
CSULB Web site describes the class as “an
introduction to university traditions; to
current issues in higher education; to academic
freedom, tenure and student’s rights
and responsibilities; and to services available
at the university throughout the student’s
academic career.
These
are only several of the many programs and
services that help students stay in school.
According to Kim’s studies these programs
and services that help students stay in
school. According to Kim’s studies
these programs not only help retention rates
but lead to high graduation rates as well.
“There
has been a steady increase in the six-year
graduation rates for all first-time freshmen,
going from 31 percent for the 1994 cohort
to close to 40 percent from the 1996 cohort,”
Kim said.
Sandy
Morales is a graduating senior set to earn
her degree in criminal justice. She said
she started off her college career badly,
and was not sure if she could finish. However,
she turned around her sophomore year and
realized that “I was better than that,”
she said. “I realized that not many
people are given the opportunity to go to
school, and I need to take advantage of
that.”
Morales
said she feels that CSULB had good resources
to help keep her motivated to stay in school
and she enjoys the education that CSULB
has given her.
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