Fall retention isn’t decided at midterms. It’s decided in the first few weeks, while students are still working out whether your campus has a place for them. At the University of Wisconsin Stout, 41% of students who didn’t return showed zero involvement activity in their first five weeks.
This guide shares four strategies from UW Eau Claire, the University of Missouri, Lincoln University, and Denison University to help you connect new students early, capture what’s actually happening on campus, and act on quiet disengagement before midterms, all without adding to your workload.
You’ll learn how to:
– Get every new student to one connection point before week three
– Run the involvement fair and every high-volume event without manual tracking
– Replace the information dump with a guided path students finish
– Spot quiet disengagement early, while there’s still time to act
Each strategy includes a peer case study, measurable results, and an action plan you can start this week. A short triage section tells you which strategy to run first depending on whether you’re in week one, week three, or further along in the semester.
Download The First Six Weeks for peer-tested strategies, real institutional numbers, and checklists you can put to work in whatever week you’re already in.