Objectives:The collaborative retention effort resulting from the integration of these four initiatives has three significant objectives:
- To increase the likelihood of academic success among undeclared freshmen at Georgia College.
- Evaluated by examining semester GPA and academic standing data.
- To increase the opportunity for student-to-campus connection and integration for undeclared freshmen at Georgia College.
- Evaluated by utilizing MAP-Works transitions survey data.
- To positively impact the retention rate of undeclared freshmen at Georgia College.
- Evaluated by reviewing institutional retention data.
Challenges/Problems Encountered:Our challenges can be classified in two categories:
- Resources: A primary current challenge involves limited and dwindling resources. Statewide economic shortfalls are resulting in cuts to university and departmental budgets and staff are spread thin (one example is our Technology department which provides a large portion of support for these initiatives).
- Buy-In: Another challenge is gaining faculty acceptance and encouraging usage of new initiatives, such as MAP-Works and DegreeWorks. Faculty and staff “fatigue” can be an issue, especially in light of additional initiatives being added to their workload. Along similar lines, maintaining training for multiple new initiatives can be difficult.