Improving tracking of and support for First-Time in College students at the University of Central Florida by revamping the advising function
Challenge
How might we provide streamlined and consistent advising functions to better support first-time in college students?
Strategy
Four-pronged effort:
- Professionalized the advising staff
- Hired more advisors and lowered the student:advisor ratio to ~300:1
- Began centrally managing all first year student advising and collocated all first year advisors
- Invested in student tracking and predictive analytics by establishing a 45 credit hour policy for students to declare a major and by creating targeted advising services for at-risk students, such as the Knight Watch Program which offers specialized advising to students with a 2.6 or lower GPA
Outcome
- After orientation, 92% of first time in college (FTIC) students met with an advisor (data from 2015)
- Lowered turnover rates within advising staff and developed a more motivated team
- Implemented a Major Exploration Program to provide students with personalized support to choose a major. FTIC undeclared students dropped by 20% from 2011 to 2015
- Began offering mandatory advising appointments for students on probation. Probation rates declined from 8.2% in Fall 2011 to 6.3% in Spring 2016
Ready to take action?
Institution
Enrollment
71,948
Pell Recipients
31%
Students of Color
54%
Net cost of Attendance
$22,849 (in-state)
