People often ask, “What is the best tool to improve student retention?” My answer is what I call The Golden Rule of Student Retention: reach out to students when they need your help the most. If you can do this on a consistent basis, your retention numbers will improve dramatically. All the best student retention efforts follow this rule. For instance, First Year Experience programs help students when they are adjusting to college life. An early alert system’s mission is to catch struggling students before it’s too late. Mentoring programs put experienced people in place to help guide students along, especially in times of need.

Is your school following this rule? If so, how efficient are your efforts? Mid-term grades are a great example of an attempt to help students that arrives too late. Here’s an all too common scenario: the mid-term test is given, a week later the grades are recorded, another week later the information gets to student services, and then another week passes before the data is acted upon. After all these delays, the student gets an email or phone call about a test they bombed three or four weeks ago. This is too late! The crisis in the student’s mind is all but over, and the school missed an opportunity to help them manage. Timely intervention would have scored your school major points in the student’s mind and more importantly their heart.

The Golden Rule of Student Retention is real and its power is undeniable. If you doubt, ask someone who recently had a traumatic experience how they feel toward people who helped them in their time of need. Then ask how they feel about people who sent them an email a month later. It’s not the same.

Mario Moore, CEO
GradesFirst