Supporting student success at Arizona State University by changing internal policies and processes in order to make interventions more effective
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Challenge
How might we prioritize institutional policies to strengthen credentialing pathways and enhance effectiveness of interventions?
Strategy
Five-pronged effort:
- Reduced admissions decisions from 2 weeks to 24 hours (2007) and eased the evaluation of transfer credits
- Required departments to list all academic major requirements in sequence, shifted requirement information to a central website (2007), required changes for requirements to be cleared with central administration, and required that all courses for a major must be offered and have enough seats for all students in that major
- Required students to choose one of four “tracks of exploration” at entry and required students to declare a major after 45 credit hours instead of 80 credit hours (2007)
- Centralized evaluation of lower-division courses (started in 2008)
- Shifted retention incentives from departments being paid for retention of students within a major to retention of students within the university as a whole (2007)
Outcome
Many of these changes supported advising effectiveness by making credentialing pathways clearer, yielding results like:
- Faster admission decisions, improved access, and smoother entry
- Better informed student choices, predictability, and clarity; students are no longer held up if a course is only offered every other year
- Made departments responsible for their students sooner and reduced the percentage of students with undeclared major at entry from 33% to 8%
- Prevented department-driven delays
- Removed the disincentive to keep students in a major that wasn’t the best fit for them
Ready to take action?
Institution
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Enrollment
63,124
Pell Recipients
34%
Students of Color
47%
Net cost of Attendance
$31,449 (in-state)