Overview of Student Success

Looking to find out more information about Student Success at Spring Arbor University?  This post is intended to give you an overview of Student Success and help you understand why it’s important to our university.  Chair and Professor, Department of Doctoral at Azuza Pacific University, Dr. Laurie Screiner writes, “College success cannot be separated from student success.”  So with this in mind, As SAU students succeed, SAU succeeds.  The mission of Student Success is the following:

To that end, SAU has partnered with Jenzabar to bring a retention management system for all programs. This comprehensive tool will help SAU to identify which students are most likely to persist, gauge a student’s openness to assistance, and help ALL OF US to connect at-risk students to the most appropriate campus resources. We have taken a data-driven, student-centered approach to student success gathering valuable student data and turning the data into concrete actions that have the best chances of increasing student success.

The Challenge
Higher Education is grappling with a tidal wave of changes and there are storms building on the horizon. From cuts to important federal and state financial aid programs to increasing need for academic student support, colleges and universities are looking for ways to do more with fewer resources without compromising the mission of the institution. SAU is no different.

SAU has never been an institution to sit back watching the higher education landscape with the attitude of “let the cards fall where they may.” Instead, SAU is recognized as a leader within Christian higher education, respected for our emphasis on preparing global citizens and innovative degree programs for working adults.

Between 1997-2007, U.S. college enrollments grew 35%. During that same time frame, SAU’s total enrollment grew more than 72%. Meanwhile since 1983, freshman retention across all institutions dropped by over 6% and graduation rates has declined 7.2% across all institutions. SAU’s own freshman retention has been as high as 82% in 2000 and as low as 71% in 2010.

Strategic Alignment
SAU’s Three-Year Strategic Plan calls for the creation of comprehensive retention plans for all delivery systems. Just like recruiting and fundraising, working towards student success is in every SAU employee’s job description. Whether online, graduate or undergraduate, when a SAU student succeeds, that means we are sending another alum out equipped to be a torch bearer of the SAU Concept.

Click here to learn more about how Student Success works here at SAU.