Last Mile Committee

The last mile committee will identify undergraduate students who have applied for graduation at Portland State University, but had their applications cancelled due to a lack of completing graduation requirements. The Committee will help them return to school in order to complete their degree. Project Working Group Robert Mercer (Chair), Maude Hines (Faculty representative), Sukhwant Jhaj (Special Assistant to the Provost for Student Success), Angela Garbarino, Pam Wagner (Degree Requirements representatives), James Ofsink (Financial Aid representative), Amanda Nguyen (Business Affairs representative), Doug Siegler (SBA representative), Becki Ingersoll-Hunt (UASC representative), Karen Devoll (CLAS representative) Project Description While traditional measures of institutional retention tend to focus on freshman, there are a significant number of students at Portland State who earn enough credits to apply for graduation, but then cancel their application and never finish. Between summer 2005 and spring 2010 768 students applied for graduation and had their applications cancelled due to not meeting all their graduation requirements. (Data collected and analyzed by Kathy Rousseau, spring 2010). Approximately 44% had a financial hold on their records, and nearly all students were in good academic standing. For a large number of students, the primary reason for leaving Portland State on the cusp of graduation may not be academic performance, but financial or other reasons. The ethnic background of students who cancelled their applications for graduation during this period was also studied. White and Asian students were underrepresented among degree cancellers. Hispanic, Native American, and especially African American students were over represented among those canceling degrees, particularly among the subset of these students with financial holds on their accounts. Action Items Identify students who earn enough credits to apply for graduation, but then cancel their application and never finish. Assign tuition remissions (retroactively or for future course work to students who have not been enrolled in Portland State University for over two terms to encourage and assist their return and graduation. Utilize the Degree Requirements Committee, Academic Requirements Committee and the Academic department to assist students in completing their academic requirements. Work to develop a quarterly early-warning system to identify and assist students who have registered to graduate, but have failed to complete their degrees.
These actions will reduce

Key Barriers Financial restrictions Lack of motivation Uncertainty of graduation requirements

These actions will achieve

Goal To identify undergraduate students who have dropped out of Portland State University within a term or two of completing degrees, and help them return to school to finish their coursework.
These actions will ultimately lead to

Reinforcement of the value of degree completion, development of an early warning system, engagement of departments in assisting those on the cusp of graduation.

Council of Academic Deans

Implementing Department

Faculty Senate Committee

Admissions and Records

Project Working Group

Executive Committee

Advisors Committee

Public Meetings I

Faculty Senate

VP EMSA

Decision Matrix Key: (R) Recommend, (A) Agree, (P) Perform, (I) Input, (D) Decide. Establish Last Mile Committee Identify students Develop early warning system I A D R I

P P R

I I

Website I

Provost

UCC

ARC

Recommendations and Decisions Initial Recommendations: 1. Identify students who apply for graduation, but then are cancelled due to lack of completion of degree requirements. 2. The committee will have the authority to assign tuition remissions (retroactively or for future course work) to students who have not been enrolled in Portland State University for over two terms to encourage and assist their return and graduation. 3. Degree Requirements, Academic Requirements Committee and the Academic department will assist students in completing their academic requirements. 4. The Committee will work to develop a quarterly early-warning system to identify and assist students who have registered to graduate but appear to not be meeting their graduation requirements. 5. The Committee will work to develop a notification system for departments for majors whose applications have been cancelled. 2011 Recommendations: 1. Continue the Last Mile Committee for one year (2011-2012), and expanding the scope and membership of the Last Mile Committee to: a. Include students who will apply for graduation in 2011-2012. b. Include students who have 200+ credits, have not received or applied for a degree, and have been gone for two terms. c. Include a representative from every college with an undergraduate program, nominated by the dean, and appointed by Provost Koch. 2. Directing the Business Intelligence Unit to create the following information dashboards to facilitate Last Mile work: a. Dashboard (available at department and college level) of degree applications, completions, students with 200+, 220+, 240+ credits, and students who have applied to graduate. b. Dashboard (available at department and college level) data on students who have applied to graduate and still owe a balance to PSU. c. Dashboard (available at department and college level) data on students who applied for graduation, but did not graduate. 3. Developing institutional capacity to support collaboration through: a. Adequate staffing (1FTE, OS1) for preemptive graduation checking in ARR. This position should be funded and staffed as soon as possible. b. Adequate staffing in the Business Affairs Office (.5FTE) to provide financial case management of appropriate Last Mile Students 4. Continuing to fund this committee with $50,000 in tuition remissions. As only $2,500 was used in 2010-2011, $47,500 is currently available for this purpose. Funding Required Amount Purpose $51,084 Resident tuition for one hundred, four credit courses Timeframe and Metrics Time frame: Review performance after one year. Number of students benefited: 500 Intensity: High. Impact on underrepresented students: High, given the mix of students. Number of students graduating as a result of this initiative: 122 as of spring 2011 Other benefits: reinforcement of the value of degree completion, development of early warning system engagement of departments in assisting those on the cusp of graduation. Metric Name/Description Early Warning System Effectiveness: Rates of students who applied for graduation, but failed to graduate before implementation compared to after implementation Remission Dollars Per Student Completion Rate Per College (Undergraduate) Reduction in the Number of Students with 200, 220, 240+ credits who have not graduate, per college Credits per graduated student: The closer this number is to 180, the more effective the system Formula / Method Old : New Tuition Remissions Used # of Last Mile Students Completion Rates Graduating UG Students (in the College) Old Levels: New Levels Total Credits Earned # of Graduates