Abstract:

Retention officers—such as chancellors, college deans, department chairs, program directors, and student success coordinators—play an instrumental role in ensuring student success in the American higher education system (Khalil, 2021). They create initiatives, implement policies, and make college-wide decisions that directly impact student success and retention.

Objective:
In an effort to paint a full and a clear picture of the student retention dynamic, this study followed a mixed-method approach that utilized survey questionnaire and Zoom interviews to reveal the participating retention officers’ perceptions towards the current retention policies at American universities and colleges.

Theoretical framework:
This study used the Human Capital Theory because it ties with the investment of American universities in students as human capital and the bedrock of national economic prosperity and individual growth (Lleras, 2004; Khalil, 2021).

Methodology & data:
The data collection started with survey questionnaire followed by interview questions that covered all pieces of the retention puzzle by eliciting the participating retention officers’ views regarding the examined retention policies. The survey questions covered the participants’ socioeconomic stratification, years of experience, the size of their institutions, and their positions in their respective institutions. During the second phase, interview questions followed to understand the experiences and the perceptions of the participants; the emotions they feel; and the thoughts they engender as they make decisions that impact student retention policies at their respective institutions. The examined retention policies included the policy of first-year programs, financial aid packages, recreational services, the variety in course offerings, the flexibility of class schedules, the ease in transferring course credits, robust advising, remediation, student support services, and career services.

Participants:
The target population consisted of retention officers who served at community colleges and universities with a student population of 5,000 to 15,000 students. The participants were student affairs officers and senior-level administrators who were directly involved with creating student retention policies, making decisions, and overseeing the management and implementation of institutional operations that directly impact student graduation rates.

Results:
The participating retention officers indicated that financial aid packages were the most effective retention policies followed by first-year programs, advising, student support services, variety in course offerings, flexibility of class schedules, recreational services, ease of transferring course credits, remediation, and career services, respectively. Moreover, retention officers have collectively acknowledged that the lack of financial resources and students’ lack of college readiness were the two primary forces that harm student success (Khalil, 2021).

Scholarly significance:
This study reveals student retention from the perspectives of retention officers who deal directly with retention initiatives. It shows how decisions are made and how they impact student success in the American higher education system. It also ranks retention policies by effectiveness from the perspectives of the professionals who create retention policies.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Educational Policy, Student Retention.