Dickinson College’s website reports that it has maintained a first-year retention rate of 90-92% since 2012, though a new committee has formed to analyze retention including “trying to understand why students leave, who’s leaving, why are they leaving, and where are they going” said Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness and Inclusivity Office of Institutional Effectiveness & Inclusivity Brenda Bretz.

When a student inquires about transferring, they are encouraged, although not required, to fill out an exit survey. Bretz said this survey often receives vague responses and that the students “don’t always give us clear and complete answers.”

“They might say something like ‘academics.’ Well, does that mean… [Dickinson] doesn’t have the major I wanted? Or, ‘I thought I wanted to major in this but now I want to do X and Dickinson doesn’t have that?’ they don’t tell us,” said Bretz. Bretz said the college has also received fluctuating responses regarding Dickinson and how the surrounding town is perceived as too big or small, or the college’s social life offering too much or not enough. “So, they are really dichotomous kind of reasons, and because the numbers of students who voluntarily leave is so small, it’s hard to really get a sense of why students leave,” said Bretz.

“If we can communicate clearly to prospective students and families what we have to offer and then deliver an excellent experience inside and outside the classroom, it seems logical to me that students will want to spend four years at Dickinson,” said Associate Provost and Dean of Advising Academic Advising Damon Yarnell.

While the college has observed common trends regarding students’ reasons for transferring, Dickinson has never had a sole person to contact regarding such trends. “We don’t have a single point of contact, so you might talk to your academic advisor, you might talk to your college dean, you might request a transcript, and you check there ‘for transfer purposes,’” said Bretz. “So, we don’t have any consistent data where we can say ‘here’s how many students have thought about transferring and here’s how many do.’”

“In my experience, students often identify ‘lack of social fit’ as a reason for transferring,” said Yarnell.

The committee is comprised of Senior Lecturer in Italian Luca Lanzilotta, Yarnell, Interim Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admissions Catherine Davenport, Director of International Student and Scholar Support Sonja Paulson, Registrar Marianne Leidigh and Bretz. The group also plans to add a student.

“We want to also look at what’s the broader environment, what’s happening, what have the changes been over time. Could they have affected this particular class, and their retention rates?” said Bretz. “So, we’re going to be looking at individual students and seeing if there are patterns across students, and we’re going to be looking at cohorts, and then looking at the environment. So it’s a pretty multi-pronged approach.”

Bretz said the idea was formed in 2017 when President Margee Ensign first came to Dickinson. However, the group’s formation faced setbacks when Vice President of Student Life Joyce Bylander was chair to the committee but then retired.

Bretz also said the committee aims to consider the various reasons that students transfer in order to prevent such motivations in the future. “I don’t know that we can always fix everything, but we can address things,” said Bretz. “You can see where there might be opportunities for us to be better at communicating with students and then also better at addressing those things and making students recognize that we do care and we want you to be here.”

The group formed at the start of this semester and has had one meeting to date.