Best practices to leverage families to improve college student retention
Your family engagement journey starts here!
College student retention is low. From 2018-2020, college student retention rates for all institutions have gradually decreased for full-time students. Average retention rates are as low as 72.4% for full-time students and 42.3% for part-time students. Colleges and universities need to get more innovative to improve student retention – families can help inspire student retention strategies and help you move the needle on your college student retention goals.
Parents influence student success and student retention. By sharing important information with families, institutions can help families better support their college students. When families receive regular updates on college progress, students stay more on track for graduation and institutions see higher overall student retention.
How does a family engagement strategy improve retention?
Families are more involved with their student’s college experience than ever before. The high level of connection between student and family opens up an opportunity to turn family involvement into student success. Now more than ever, higher education professionals should consider parent and family engagement as a student retention strategy. A strategic family communication plan can help channel parent influence to improve college student retention.
From move-In to graduation, college students rely on their parents and families for advice and guidance. But parents need to stay properly informed in order to best support their student. By updating families on important events, deadlines, and reminders, colleges and universities can help bridge the information gap and help more students succeed. 73% of parents say staying updated from their student’s institution helps them better advise their student.
Additionally, sharing important academic and financial updates with families that have been granted FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) waivers is a proven effective student retention strategy. Specifically, sharing changes related to financial information, holds, and account balance can play an even greater role in improving student retention.
A solution that streamlines FERPA management and increases family engagement not only improves college student retention, but also data privacy. 61% of parents have access to their students’ college IDs and passwords — and that only represents the parents that admit to it.
of parents say being updated by their student’s institution helps them better advise their student.
73%
Research shows that parent engagement improves student retention
Study: Data from 9 universities and 12,374 students shows student retention increases with parent engagement
CampusESP conducted an exploratory study to analyze the impact of parent engagement on improving student retention at nine universities. The study defines “parent engagement” as parents or guardians receiving emails on student progress. The emails alerted parents on FERPA protected data and shared guidance on how parents could best support their students to improve student retention and morale. On average, student retention was more than 8% higher for a student when their parent or guardian received regular updates on student progress, compared to those who did not receive similar updates.
“Our retention rate for students with families receiving FERPA alerts is more than 10% higher than those not in the system!”
– Ernest Brevard Jr, Ed.D, AVP for Enrollment Management and Student Success Operations, Morgan State University
Data from the same study also indicated that the impact of parent engagement on student retention is highest for lack and Hispanic students. Student retention was also higher than average for first-generation and Pell grant eligible students when families were receiving updates.
This is the second exploratory study conducted by CampusESP on the impact of family engagement on student retention. The previous study, conducted in 2022, saw similar results.
Study: Parent engagement is connected to student retention
Another CampusESP study supports that student retention rates improve as parent engagement levels increase, based on data from Abilene Christian University and Tarleton State University. A parent engagement ratio was calculated, based on interactions such as email opens and clicks. Parents were classified into different engagement levels to further analyze parent engagement and student retention. Data showed that the more emails a parent received and the more the parent engaged with the emails, the more likely the student was to be retained.
3 universities that have used parent engagement as part of their student retention plan
University of West Georgia achieves 24% higher student retention with parent engagement
As part of their student retention plan, University of West Georgia moved their FERPA waiver process online and engaged families through CampusESP to improve their student outcomes. UWG has achieved a 24% higher retention rate for students with a parent receiving updates on their progress. They also experienced a 93% decrease in paper forms processed each month, resulting in 38 full workdays of staff time saved over an 18-month period.
“The data reaffirms that it’s working and shows the real life impact for our students. I’m excited to share information like this at future orientation dates to show families that they have a massive role in their student’s ability to be successful when they get access to correct information from the source. It’s inspiring, especially for first-gen parents.”
– Ashlee Pollard, Director of Student Solutions & Momentum Center at University of West Georgia
Roane State Community College achieves 25% higher student retention rate with parent engagement
Roane State Community College was awarded a Tennessee Promise Forward grant to expand their student retention plan. Believing that informed families could help students stay on track, Roane State used their grant to invest in family engagement and start their first Parent and Family Office. To help scale their new family engagement strategy, Roane State turned to CampusESP. CampusESP’s family portal and automated emails provide consistent, personalized content to Roane State families. Roane State achieved a 25% higher retention rate when family members receive updates on student progress.
“At Roane State we want to see students start strong, return each semester, and flourish in their classes. We know the more encouragement students have at home, the more likely that is to happen. CampusESP allows us to build stronger relationships and team up with parents and families to provide true holistic support.”
– Jamie Stringer, VP of Student Services and Enrollment Management at Roane State Community College
For every one-point increase in Total Parent Engagement, the student was 1.3 times more likely to be retained at University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Alabama at Birmingham saw parents as partners and knew that leveraging families could help improve the student retention. After communicating with families consistently for a year and collecting robust engagement data, UAB’s Family Engagement and Institutional Effectiveness and Analysis teams worked to see if there was a true, statistical relationship between family engagement and student retention for first-year students. UAB found that students with higher family engagement were more likely to be retained. Drilling further, the results show that the average student is 1.297 times more likely to be retained for every 1 point increase in the Total Parent Engagement score attributed to the parent, for all populations. Email click rates are also significantly correlated with student retention, which is a big reason why email communication is at the center of UAB’s parent engagement strategy.
“I knew that positioning parents as partners would improve the student experience when we implemented CampusESP in August of 2019. But after seeing how families engaged with the system and the team’s communications, I began to wonder just how much their parent engagement strategy was moving the needle.”
– Meredith Kahl, Director of Off Campus Student & Family Engagement at University of Alabama at Birmingham
How to build your student retention strategy with parent engagement
1. Build your parent database
Work with your Admissions or Enrollment team on campus to make a clear plan for collecting parent contact information early on. At the minimum, you should be collecting parent email addresses, but collecting additional information can help strengthen your strategy. Many colleges and universities collect this information on the application, but the earlier you can get the information the better for your student retention strategy. Give parents the opportunity to identify themselves with a parent specific Request for Information (RFI) form. You can also use opportunities such as campus visits as a way to collect parent information.
2. Start communicating with families consistently
Communicating with families on a consistent basis helps get them the proper information they need to support and advise their student throughout their college experience. Families also expect frequent communication with you, so this can serve dual purposes. Look at the data – 85% of current families want institutions to communicate with them on a weekly basis or more. If you’re looking for a place to start, go with email. Nearly all families prefer email communication. Text messaging is also an effective way to reach Black, Hispanic, first-gen, and lower income household families.
of current families want institutions to communicate with them on a weekly basis or more.
85%
3. Create a more comprehensive content strategy to keep families informed at the right time
Consider the topics that families should know about and when they should know about it. You can use our month-to-month roadmap for family communication as a helpful starting point. Our family communication plan is informed by two student success theories: The W-Curve framework for first year students and Schlossberg’s Transition Theory. Additionally, we factored in trends we’ve analyzed from 1.5 million families to build our own methodology for family engagement and student support. Families require consistent guidance on how to support their student’s transition and success, even beyond the first year. Using tools such as a content calendar or content curation services can assist you in planning out your content strategy to improve student retention and success.
4. Move FERPA waiver management online and connect families with important academic and financial updates
By moving FERPA waiver management online, and allowing parents to initiate the waiver request, institutions can improve secure access for families that want to help keep their students on track. An online FERPA management solution lets students control exactly which records are shared, giving them the autonomy to make their own decisions about their information. We’ve also consistently found that student retention is higher for students when a parent receives regular updates on student progress, compared to students with a parent who did not receive similar updates. By sharing important resources with families and keeping them properly informed, institutions can help bridge stronger partnerships between students and their families. With easy visibility into academic and financial progress and timely nudging when help may be needed, families are empowered to partner in their student’s college journey.