YOUNGSTOWN Academic aid helps YSU keep students

The university has hired a new admissions director and is close to hiring an enrollment consultant.
By RON COLE
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- More Youngstown State University students are seeking tutoring and other academic assistance, helping them stay in school and boosting the university's enrollment.
The number of students seeking tutoring, mentoring and other academic help through YSU's Center for Student Progress increased from 4,973 in the 1999-2000 school year to 5,449 last school year, says a report reviewed by university trustees Tuesday.
Retention rate: That helped boost YSU's retention rate for freshmen from 64.8 percent to 67.3 percent, above the state average of 63 percent, university officials say. The rate measures the percentage of freshmen who return for their sophomore years.
"Retaining a student is a lot cheaper than recruiting a student," Cyndy Anderson, vice president for student affairs, told trustees.
Retention has been a major part of YSU President David Sweet's push to increase enrollment. A big part of that push has been to beef up programs to help students succeed academically, particularly freshmen most at risk of dropping out.
"We know that students who use these services are successful," said Jonelle Beatrice, who directs the Center for Student Progress.
For instance, 74.6 percent of freshmen who used the center's services at least once in the 2000-2001 academic year returned to YSU as sophomores last fall, well above the 67.3 percent rate for all freshmen. The rate was even higher for freshmen who used the center at least five times -- 85.8 percent.
The key, Anderson and Beatrice said, is getting even more students to use the services.
Academic warnings: Of the 1,179 freshmen at YSU last fall, 284 ended the fall semester on academic warning. Of those 284, only 19 had taken advantage of the center's programs.
"Those are the students we need to get," Beatrice said.
Anderson and Sweet reported that YSU's spring semester enrollment increased 6.1 percent from 11,155 last spring to 11,833.
The numbers went up in nearly every enrollment category: full-time equivalent up 8.5 percent; minority students up 19 percent; graduate students up 20 percent.
Fall increase: The spring increase follows a 4 percent enrollment increase in the fall semester, only the second time in a dozen years that fall enrollment went up at YSU.
Meanwhile, Anderson announced that YSU has hired E. Meredith Young as the university's new admissions director.
Young, currently admissions director at Notre Dame College of Ohio, begins April 15.
Thomas Vukovich, interim executive director of enrollment services, said YSU also is close to hiring a consultant to help develop a long-term enrollment plan.
cole@vindy.com