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The goal of this project is to decrease the number of African American/Black and LatinX students in academic difficulty. Students should be easily able to access information on academic and student success resources. We need to find ways to remove upstream and downstream barriers to communication and one way to do this is through increased methods of information dissemination.
By connecting students to academic resources and information, we can improve academic success for all students. Solutions include increased communication strategies, a more immersive and longer-term orientation program, options for course grades, and a less stigmatizing way to grade students.
"We don't know what questions to ask or where to find the answers to the questions we have. Sometimes when we do have questions, we don't feel like we can ask them because we are supposed to be adults -- we feel like we have to find the solutions ourselves."
-- Spring 2021 Focus Group Participant
Student Voices
Student Voices
African American/Black and LatinX students at Old Dominion are concerned about time management, balancing academic and family schedules, and multiple jobs.
Students worry about how to pay for college, having effective conversations with professors, finding a mentor, and finding ways to be involved on campus. They feel that orientation was helpful, yet since it was so condensed, a lot of their questions came after orientation was over. Students also reported not knowing what types of resources and events were occurring on campus that they could attend. They want a unified area to go for information that is available virtually and in-person. Students also want to better understand financing college and to find more ways to get financial support and financial preparation for the post-college years.
When students do not pass a course, or withdraw from a course, it leads to a longer time-to-degree. Being in college longer costs more money. Taking courses and not completing a degree is an even bigger problem.
Compared to nationwide data, ODU's first-year retention rate is 80%, which is higher than the state (71%) and national (69%) averages. After six years, 56.4% students graduated, and after eight years, that number moves up to 58.8%. Of the 41.2 students who did not graduate in eight years, 0.28% are still pursuing their degrees at ODU, 58% transferred to another institution, and we lost contact with the remaining 39% who most likely dropped out or at least paused their education. Four year graduation rates for ODU students are 27.0% compared to 35.8% nationwide. At ODU, 70% of first year attendees take out an average of $7,426 in loans and the average loan award is $7,034 per year. Finally, ODU's loan repayment default rate is 9.3%, which is in line with national averages, but across the nation, loan default rates have grown over the past several years.
We need to find ways to increase student retention and progression through a strong focus on academic success initiatives and reducing barriers to education for our students.
Colleges and universities have committed to ensuring student success, but we all still have work to do. The African American/Black and LatinX students we spoke to echoed this thought. We need to provide resources and programs that work to increase student retention and success.
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