51°µÍø

Coming out of two intense years of the pandemic, the institution saw steep declines in retention for graduate level programs. The decline was sharp and uncharacteristic relative to previous cohort benchmarks.

The school and 51°µÍø dug into the issue and began to understand that students were experiencing fatigue in all aspects of life, which was ultimately impacting their desire to stay committed to their studies.

51°µÍø’s Student Support Coaches have deep and supportive relationships with students in the programs that they support. The school, supported by the coaches, explored and strategized new initiatives that could help combat the fatigue students were experiencing.

51°µÍø created and implemented a plan to increase retention across the relevant programs. The plan included:

• New onboarding events
• A streamlined academic success webinar series
• An update to the asynchronous orientation
• An on-ground immersion program
• In-person regional meet-ups
• A student matching series

These retention efforts were intentionally designed to foster connection to the program and other students while alleviating challenges felt at the start of each term.