Study lauds YSU retention

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State University is lauded for improving course completion rates in a case study published recently by Hobsons, a national company that helps students succeed in college.

The company’s article chronicles YSU’s decision to implement the Starfish student-retention program in 2012 to help students achieve in class.

Starfish allows faculty to flag students who are behind academically and to route those concerns to the students’ peer mentors and student-support staff in the YSU Center for Student Progress.

The case study notes these results:

Between fall 2011 and spring 2015, undergraduate course completion rates rose from 78.4 percent to 86.8 percent.

Since implementing the Starfish platform, the percentage of YSU first-year students with failing grades due to nonattendance has dropped from 4.41 percent to 2.4 percent.

The fall-to-fall retention rate for first-time, full-time students in the fall 2011 cohort was 67.5 percent and increased to 73 percent in fall 2015.

Faculty participation in student success efforts rose from 2 percent to 47 percent.

For the results, YSU was among only three schools nationwide to receive 2014 Starfish 360 Awards. Last year, Hobsons acquired Starfish Retention Solutions.