Career Colleges and Student Retention

One of the major challenges faced by most career colleges is the ability to hold on to their students. It  is really such a big problem, that now there are meetings held in  career colleges to keep tabs on students who are absent from their classes.

It would be easier to appreciate the students problem if you realize for a minute that these students have a host of responsibilities to attend to - jobs, kids, money issues - and these might make staying in the career college in their first year be a big task indeed. Therefore it has become number one priority in career colleges to retain their students in any way possible.

Here are a couple of tips that could help you out with student retention during their first year at Career College.

* Make them know you are always there to help. The best way is to make a formal appearance to the students on their first day on campus soil and greet them warmly. This has a sort of psychological warming effect on the students and it makes them always remember that you would be somewhere around to take care in event of any trouble. If possible arrange for the students to personally meet with members of the staff and ask questions.

* Ensure that students get in touch with their faculty advisers early in their first year. If this is not done, a wave of confusion can set in for the student, which could create a higher risk of dropping out than if the student had consulted the faculty adviser.

* Have as much cultures represented in the classes and amongst the staff as possible. It has been found that students feel more comfortable amongst mixed cultural areas. You should go to any length to provide this.

* Keep the school area clean and tidy. This might not seem to make sense but it actually does. Students do not want to be paying for unclean facilities and have to seat in an annoying environment. Make sure the bathrooms, toilets and the surrounding landscape are clean.

* Make sure you have made provision whereby the students participates in the class activities. This satisfies their need to be recognized in the class. For instance you can have a Student Appreciation day where you serve refreshments to the students.

* Help the students in easing their stress where possible. This can come in the form of subsidized transportation, student aid grants and scholarships.

* Another way to retain your students is through the introduction of gender specific activities. This way you can have men and women doing things that enable them to bond with people of their own gender. For instance you can hold a Daddy Day where your class men can come and talk about fatherhood and how it has been so far for them.

* Make sure you have trained staff who knows the basics of attending to the needs of your students. This will help your students and make the possibility of irking them via your staff be checked in time.

Source: www.articlesbase.com