Four tips on how community colleges can use RaiseMe to improve fall to spring student retention.

It’s the home stretch of the semester, and you are likely not only preparing for finals, but also reviewing your progress towards spring registration goals. Fall to spring retention can be tricky, especially for your newer students who might still be finding their stride, or for students who find themselves faced with probation or progress (SAP) barriers to overcome. However, we know that positive affirmations can influence student behavior. RaiseMe can help you connect with students to ensure their success, and impact your enrollment targets! Here are some tips for getting started:

Remind students about registration from the RaiseMe Educator Portal

You can request a free account at www.raise.me/educator that allows you to see the portfolios of your students, along with which schools they are interested in transferring to. You can also message students directly from the portal, and remind them that the more classes they take in community college, the more in scholarships they can earn. Research shows that these small, frequent “nudges” can steer students towards helpful behaviors. Click the “invite” button on the top right of your dashboard.

Include RaiseMe in messages about Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

It’s likely that your college is preparing communications to students, who unfortunately might find themselves on SAP at the end of the semester. We know that if these students pull their grades up they can successfully regain their satisfactory status, and RaiseMe can be a way to encourage students to incrementally improve their grades. Students can earn for achievements as small as getting an A or B in a course, which are the building blocks of improving their overall GPA. This email template or this introduction to RaiseMe are easy ways to positively encourage SAP students to join.

Use RaiseMe to predict future scholarship earnings

Have a student that is really close to earning an A or B? Trying to encourage students to take advantage of some pre-finals tutoring? You can use a student’s RaiseMe portfolio to predict what their transfer micro-scholarships would be based upon their projected grades. Students can enter courses in their portfolio and change their grades to see how it impacts their scholarship earnings, so they can see the financial difference between a C and a B.

Get your student leaders involved

Significant evidence points to the fact that students who feel connected are more likely to persist. Involve your student organizations, PTK, and athletic teams in inviting their peers to make sure they are registered for the spring semester. Encourage them to bring a friend to the advising office, or equip more senior students with tools to do peer advising with their friends. Students can log volunteer activities, like peer tutoring, into their RaiseMe portfolios and actually earn scholarships for being a good friend.

Have ideas that you want to share about fall to spring retention? We would love to hear from you! Reach our team at ccinfo@raise.me.