No Show Student Survey, Schoolcraft College.

N

11

College Applicants; Community Colleges; Declining Enrollment; Dropout Characteristics; Dropout Research; Enrollment Influences; Followup Studies; No Shows; Predictor Variables; Program Improvement; School Holding Power; Student Attitudes; Telephone Surveys; Two Year College Students; Two Year Colleges; Withdrawal (Education)

In winter semester 1995, Schoolcraft College, in Michigan, experienced a 7% drop in enrollment and an 8% drop in credit hours, including 461 students who applied but did not enroll. To determine the reasons that the no shows had for not enrolling and how many planned to enroll in the future, demographic data were collected from application information and telephone interviews were conducted with a sample of 100. For all of the no shows, 60% were female, 17% were minority, and 17% were seeking admission to restricted programs such as Nursing and Culinary Arts. Results of the interviews indicated that 27% did not enroll due to financial difficulties, 9% cited a job change, and 8% indicated that class offerings conflicted with their work schedule. In addition, many students were late in getting their paperwork into financial aid or for employer reimbursement. A full 87% of applicants planned to enroll in the future. Based on these results, the following recommendations were made: (1) increase efforts to provide students with financial assistance and support; (2) implement a college-wide system of personal follow-up and outreach to no show students; (3) find strategies to encourage minority students to enroll; and (4) collect the data on a continuous basis to use to increase retention. The survey instrument is appended. (KP)

1996

ED387188