In times of economic downturn, higher education is affected in a few different ways. Enrollments can shift up or down, state-level funding is stagnant or reduced, and generally there is a lot of attention paid to programs that provide service to students rather than teaching.

As a result, those of us in support services need to keep a watchful eye on what we do. Data collection is the first place to start. Numbers of students, courses, contacts and hours of tutoring should be accounted for in routine reports. At times like this, we do assessment for quality assurance, student learning outcomes and goal attainment, but we also need to maintain excellent records on the usage and success of our programs in helping retention of students. It is less expensive to retain a student than to recruit a new one. Therefore, our role is critical to the retention mission at our institution.

Routine reports should be developed in case anyone should ask you how your program is doing. A good data system can generate a report like that in seconds. These are the times to be proactive and have that information on hand, just in case.

Shevawn Eaton, Ph. D.
Director, ACCESS/ESP
Northern Illinois University