Student retention is an important success indicator in higher education. Graduating from college offers access to better paying jobs and social mobility (Tretina, 2022). The National Student Clearinghouse, however, reports that the public four-year institutions’ student retention rate has not yet returned to the pre-pandemic level of 75.6 percent (Gardner, 2022).
In his 2015 book, Breakpoint: The Changing Market Plan for Higher Education, Jon McGee encouraged optimism: “The changing conditions reshaping the world of higher education in America should lead us neither to gloom nor to despair but rather to the pursuit of opportunity and advantage” (p. 143). Today, it is even more important for all institutions to be creative and explore options to promote student retention and the common good.
