Florida Atlantic University (FAU) unveiled a campuswide intervention campaign to keep students on track to graduate within four years.

The school is attempting to mitigate financial hardships that lead many students to drop out. FAU aims to keep students enrolled by having on-site retention specialists help navigate financial scholarships and grants.

Additionally, the university also increased the number of available scholarships, doubled the number of on-campus jobs, and ushered in an overall “shift in the culture.”—and it’s truly paying off, resulting in the decrease in drop-out rates in students between their first and second years of college.

“Until we had a deep look at ourselves, we didn’t realize that we were selling [students] short,” FAU’s Assistant Provost for Academic Operations and Planning, James Capp, said.

“The biggest thing was just for the institution to set clear expectations for students that they need to graduate within four years,” he continued. “It wasn’t talked about before, so there wasn’t an explicit goal. Now, every time the president talks to students, he says, ‘You’re going to graduate in four years.'”

Some interventions seem small, but can have a big impact. Florida Atlantic University’s efforts to increase its proportion of students who stay in college and finish on time began with the simplest of changes: convincing students they could.

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— Florida Atlantic University (@FloridaAtlantic) March 7, 2022

Hasan Dickinson is one FAU student who benefitted from this initiative. A retention specialist was able to help him acquire scholarship funds, quit one of his two jobs, and stay enrolled in school.

“At times, it feels hopeless, I’m not going to lie,” Dickinson recalled of his early college obstacles. “It’s not the people—it’s the system. They’re good people. There’s just not enough attention to this as an issue.”

“Something that’s so important in society, it should be easier. There shouldn’t be all these hurdles just to get an education,” he added.

Huguette St. Hubert is another student who received assistance through FAU’s program, though hers came in advocacy and help in the college application process.

While this educational intervention system was crafted with the college’s low-income Black and Latino students in mind, all FAU students benefit through initiatives like the university’s “flight plan” system—which roadmaps students’ semester-to-semester journey to their coveted degree.

FAU’s efforts in keeping low-income students of color enrolled and getting them to graduate within four years is truly commendable. More universities should follow in the South Florida institution’s footsteps.

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