​President Barack Obama has made degree completion a major plank in his educational agenda for the immediate years ahead. It is viewed by the U.S. Education Department as a “federal-state partnership,” and it has up to $500 million a year behind studying and formulating retention practices that will work.

Retention-to-degree is quickly becoming a goal of both universities and community colleges across the country. Illinois Valley Community College (IVCC), which has focused on this area for decades, would make a good case study on such efforts.

In 1990, the college decided to focus on why its students were falling short of associate degree and certificate completion, making improvements in these areas an institutional goal. The dean of instruction talked with the division chairs, faculty groups, counselors and registrar's office personnel—each of whom dealt with students in crucial areas leading to completion—about the goal and to gather ideas. 

We also included financial aid officers and records staff because they also interacted with students during the course of the year. IVCC wanted all of them to know they would be expected to promote the value of completion in order to help students transfer or secure jobs.

Next, the division chairs and dean of instruction visited with many of the vocational and technical teachers to gain some insights into why they felt students were stopping short of completing their programs. 

Most of the faculty members were not “up” on the need to work with students on encouraging completion of either a one-year certificate or an associate degree. They had been more occupied with course development, equipment procurement, and teaching and other needs of their classrooms. The vocational-technical teachers were asked if they would let the dean and/or division chair visit their classes to talk with their students relative to program completion. 

What was found in these discussions and a review of numerous transcripts was that many students were stopping a few classes or a few credit hours short of completion. Some students said they assumed the college would just send them a diploma or certificate, and they didn't pay much attention to the “completion” need. 

Getting the message across

Talking to the students really impressed upon them the difference of “getting close” or just “getting the skills” in a program compared to why it was more beneficial to complete a degree or certificate. Some thought that the certificate wasn't necessary, as they were going for the two-year degree. The college noted that what often happened was that students didn’t complete because they took a job prior to completing a program, lacked funds or had personal matters to attend.  

It was eye opening for college officials that there was almost no emphasis on completion, since they thought the college was doing a great job up to then.

Starting in fall 1990, IVCC began the school year with a faculty-staff workshop discussing what was needed to make degree and certificate completions an institutional priority. Small-group discussions brought forth many creative and useful ideas. Some faculty and staff members already were doing a better job than others, and they spoke about what was working for them. 

Each group reported to the full faculty-staff group the ideas that they had come up with and what they would do during the year to emphasize to students the need to work toward completion.

Double-digit increases

IVCC began to track the results of its efforts. It started paying big dividends for students over the next four years as the college tracked increases in both degree and certificate completions. There was a 33 percent increase in associate degree completion from 1990-1991 through 1994-1995. The certificate completions jumped 58 percent, and the overall growth in degree and certificate completions was nearly 62 percent.

Results from efforts to improve degree and certificate completions do not happen overnight and cannot be accomplished by one office or in an isolated program. As was mentioned, it involves getting all faculty members, student services professionals, division and department chairpersons and a commitment from top administration on board. 

Each department and division was given the 1991-1992 baseline data on completions in May 1991. The college started preparing reports for each department/division to show where they had started with completions and followed up to highlight areas with increases.

This positive reinforcement kept those highly motivated persons moving even more energetically toward increasing completions. It also pressured those not doing so well, but officials encourage them to continue with their efforts and suggested ideas to spark improvements.

The cost to administer the effort was completely absorbed through the existing personnel in administration and faculty.

Finding the near-completers

One group the college didn’t address was previous students who may have had 18 to 55 or more credit hours on their transcripts but had not completed the remaining course or courses needed to complete a credential. However, an institution can help those students get that credential. A review of student records can turn up several hundred former students a college should be able to reach to encourage them to complete their degree or certificate. 

In some cases, a general studies degree would be the best option if the student didn't necessarily follow a prescribed program of study. It still leads to a completion, and for the individual it is a great feeling to get that degree.

Some students leave the college a few courses short when they transfer to a university. Why not contact them and have them “reverse transfer” some courses back to the college to be used to complete their degree at the community college? Our community colleges get so close on so many students, but it takes some imagination and aggressiveness to get this part of the job done and raise the number of degree and certificate completions. 

Let’s not forget that some students leave for a university but don’t attain that bachelor’s degree. And, for some reason, these students forget that they can return to a community college to complete a credential, which in today’s world economy, is essential. 

Andrews is the Distinguished Fellow in Community College Leadership at Olney Central College in Illinois. He is a past president of Olney Central and served as dean of instruction at Illinois Valley Community College.