Many campuses allow students to withdraw from their institution by simply filling out an online form. Historically this has been our institutional practice as well. We never talked to the withdrawing student or attempted to see what, if anything, we could do to help them stay. We immediately saw that this needed to change.
The first thing we did to improve our process was to hire a staff member whose sole responsibility it is to meet with every student who expresses an interest in withdrawing from our institution. This individual, working hand-in-hand with our Registrar’s Office, completely overhauled the withdrawal process so as to prohibit any student from leaving our institution without first meeting with the withdrawal coordinator. This full-time staff member now meets (either in-person or virtually if needed) with each student who intends to withdraw from our institution to determine what might be done to help retain this student and/or ways we can improve our services in order to prevent similar students from withdrawing in the future.
This position also reaches out to all students who previously withdrew from our institution, but who indicated they intend to return at a future time, to see what might be done to help these students return. As a student withdraws, the withdrawal coordinator works with our Coordinator of Parent and Family Services to communicate with the parent(s) of the student to better understand why the student left and what could have been done to retain this student. This staff member also tracks and compiles data from every student who withdraws from our institution and then develops programming and initiatives based on the findings to support current and future students and prevent other students from withdrawing. The withdrawal coordinate also uses this data to help educate various offices and departments across campus on trends so we can react and pivot with key initiatives and outreach as needed.
