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Group
discusses retention rate
Presidents
of major campus organizations give Board members ideas
on how to improve TCU.
By
Julia Mae Jorgensen
With
one hour to make their case, 15 members of Intercom, a
group consisting of the presidents of major campus organizations,
presented to the Board of Trustees Student Relations Committee
three ways to achieve one of TCU’s ultimate goals
- student retention.
“We began this semester working on this presentation
to discuss more than parking and food,” Student Government
Association President Jay Zeidman told the committee.
Financial aid, a new student center and an advising system
are “at the front of student’s minds,”
Zeidman said.
“We don’t know why students are leaving TCU,”
Zeidman said, “and each of these topics ties into
retention.”
Adrienne Moretti, president of the Residence Hall Association,
cited statistics that most students make their decision
about staying at a college during the first six weeks
of their freshman year. TCU currently loses 19 percent
of its students after their freshman year and 10 percent
every year after that, said Barbara Herman, associate
vice chancellor of student development.“We do a good
job of attracting students, but not keeping them,”
Moretti said.
Lance Gillet, president of Leadership Council, told the
committee the Board needs to address financial aid, one
of the greatest needs students have.
“My college career would be impossible without financial
aid,” said Ugur Sener, president of the International
Student Association.
Gillet said because tuition has increased and there is
a lack of opportunity for scholarships during their sophomore,
junior and senior years, students are having to leave
TCU for financial reasons.
“We would like to see a system where growing costs
and the margin are covered,” Gillet said.
Currently, Gillet said, there is a $19.3 million financial
aid budget. After talking with Michael Scott, director
of scholarships and financial aid, Gillet told the committee
that an additional $2.5 million in the financial aid budget
would help.
“We can do more given rises in tuition,” said
Greg Beauchamp, Honors chairman. “We need to give
students scholarship opportunities throughout their four
years.”
Kyle Mulloy told the committee of the campus’s need
for a new student center and spoke of tours he gives of
the campus as president of Student Foundation.
“I focus on the reasons why I stayed here,”
Mulloy said. “The student center is not one of them.”
Several members of the Board affirmed Mulloy’s case
saying that a new student center is on their minds too.
“This student center has now moved to a top priority,”
trustee Clarence Scharbauer III, said.
Scharbauer said he could possibly see the start of it
in the next two or three years and said it would be “top
of the line.”
Finally, members of Intercom told the committee of a new
program called Transitions. Transitions’s purpose
is to serve as a structure to help students throughout
their four years and hopefully, keep them at TCU.
Laura Miller, chairwoman of the committee and trustee,
said she and the Board appreciated the care with which
Intercom handled the presentation.
“We know there are real people behind every number,”
Miller said.
Miller will meet with Intercom at 2 p.m. today to report
why and how the Board voted. |
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Sarah
Chacko/Photo Editor
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| Vice
Chancellor for Student Affairs Don Mills talks about
advising needs as part of an Intercom discussion
Thursday afternoon in the Student Center. |
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