Changing Policies And Practices For The Promotion Of Student Retention

The retention of engineering students, particularly those from underrepresented groups, remains a major challenge for colleges and universities. Often when addressing this issue, colleges will develop special programs that are outside the normal operations of the institution. The success of these programs in improving retention and graduation rates vary from school to school. One thing that is common with these programs is that they tend to be expensive and only schools with deep pockets can afford to effectively sustain these programs long enough to have the desired outcome of improved retention. In the current economic climate, already limited funds for such programs are bound to become more difficult to find. Rather than develop or add on new programs, we will have to fundamentally change how we interface with students as part of our everyday operations. We present an examination of modifications in policies and practices at the Grove School of Engineering at the City College of New York and discuss how these alterations can have an impact on student retention.