Dear Colleagues:

I wanted to bring you up to speed on a few things that should be of interest to you – an update on recruiting and retention, ASU System news, and our upcoming HLC visit.

1. Recruiting and Retention Update

As of yesterday, we have had 4,398 high school seniors apply to become members of our incoming Class of 2022 and 3,464 have been accepted. By way of comparison, at the END of February in 2014, we had 4,222 applicants, with 3,331 acceptances. Given that the Fall 2014 semester was our largest freshman class in A-State history, I am encouraged by these developments. But getting students to apply to A-State is only half of the equation – the next step is to focus on "yield" – the percent of admitted students who enroll in the freshman class. In 2014, we "yielded" 51 percent of the accepted students into our freshman class. Unfortunately, last year our yield rate of 43 percent was significantly lower than previous years, resulting in the smallest incoming freshman class in many years. So, as you can imagine, our recruiting and advising teams are working very hard to ensure to maximize our yield. Early enrollment indicators are encouraging. For example, we are 7 percent ahead of last year’s pace on the number of incoming students who have paid for their housing deposit. We will continue to monitor other yield indicators throughout the next several months.

I have exciting news to share about our retention efforts. Last year, we retained only 86.9 percent of our freshman class from Fall '16 to Spring '17. This year, in no small part because of the Herculean efforts of our faculty, administrators, advisors, staff members, and our Completion Commission, we retained 91.5 percent of our freshman class from Fall ‘17 to Spring ‘18. That is a HUGE improvement. If you see Jill Simons, be sure to thank her for championing this effort. She will be the first to deflect the credit to others, but she has truly been our leader, and I am convinced we would not have had this success without her. Now, she and her team will turn to the task of ensuring that our Spring freshmen return for their sophomore Fall semester. Last year was a pretty tough year for us – we lost an additional 14 percent of our freshmen over the summer, resulting in a very low first-year retention rate of 72.7 percent. Coupled with the small incoming freshman class, it is pretty easy to see why we have faced a significant budget shortfall this fiscal year. We will work diligently in the coming months to minimize the “summer melt” that we experienced in 2017.

2. ASU System News

As we begin continue moving forward on our plans to shore up our base and to advance our mission, I remain grateful for the support of our ASU System Office. I speak with President Welch every day and I know that his team is committed to helping A-State thrive in our current challenging environment. For example, they will soon release the results of two system-wide initiatives: the Huron Group’s study and a recently completed transfer student study. This work will dramatically improve our efficiency, our enrollment, and, as a direct result, our financial stability. The fact that Governor Asa Hutchinson agreed to fund more than half of the Huron study is testament of his respect for the ASU System efforts. The ASU System has helped to improve our vital relationships with our sister institutions, such that we are now far more coordinated and collaborative than we have ever been. The ASU System has also been instrumental in helping us to understand the effect of the new funding formula, and how we can best respond to its pressures while still maintaining a focus on our core mission.

I am new here, but I have learned a lot about the history of higher education in Arkansas since I arrived. It is my impression that Arkansas State University has never enjoyed greater autonomy and power of self-determination than it has today. For example, I attended the legislative budget hearings at the Capitol last month, and one of the legislators asked to hear directly from the state’s university leaders about tuition and fee increases. I was impressed when that request resulted in our system president being called forward alongside the UA System president to testify on behalf of all higher education in the state. My take away that day was that the ASU System is now increasingly seen as an equal to the UA System in that context – something that I assume was not the case a decade ago.

As we focus together here in Jonesboro on the things that we can control, I take comfort in the knowledge that Dr. Welch and his colleagues are serving us well in our state capitol. It is a rigorous effort that requires daily diligence and regular interaction with our state legislators, the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE), and the University of Arkansas System Office, all of which are located in Little Rock.

3. The HLC Visit

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is sending their accreditation team to review our campus on March 5-6. Some of you may be wondering, "What is HLC and weren’t they just here recently?" Great questions!  

The HLC is our regional accreditor, and it accredits the entire institution, as opposed to individual programs. Regional accreditations (and the HLC itself) are not new inventions. Indeed, the HLC, formerly known as North Central Association, has been in existence since 1895. Having regional accreditation is vital to the future of our campus. Historically, regional accreditation affirms educational quality by defining and authenticating colleges/universities, separating genuine institutions from imposters, facilitating the transfer of student credit hours, auditing institutions for sustainability, and promoting institution improvement.

In the modern higher education environment, HLC has additional mandates from the United States Department of Education (USDE) and state coordinating/governing boards like the ADHE. Regional accreditation, for example, authenticates A-State’s eligibility for government support. This means, that our students who qualify for need-based scholarships (e.g., Pell Grants) can use government funds to pay for their A-State education. In other words, regional accreditation opens access to students who would not otherwise be able to attend college.

As many of you know, the HLC did recently review our campus – in 2013-2014. Had we performed well in that review, we would have been placed in the "Open Pathway" meaning that our next comprehensive review would not be due until 2023-2024. Unfortunately, the 2013-2014 report pushed A-State into the most rigorous category of accreditation called the "Standard Pathway." The reasons for this decision centered on concerns about A-State’s commitment to student-learning assessment. The Standard Pathway requires a full site visit and comprehensive report at the mid-point in the traditional ten-year accreditation cycle. That is why they are returning again next month. Provost Lynita Cooksey and her team have spent the last several months gearing up for the visit, and I am thankful for their efforts.

Why should we care about assessment? College accountability is big news these days, and while conducting student-learning assessment can be challenging, it is our "new normal." Failing to do our best to measure student learning is not an acceptable response, and it puts our accreditation at risk. I am so thankful for the leadership of our Provost, Summer Deprow (who has done an incredible job bringing order to our student-learning assessment program), and our faculty and staff members who volunteer to serve on the A-State Assessment Committee, the Program-Level Assessment Committee, and the Co-Curricular Assessment Committee. They understand that assessment is not just checking a box to satisfy accreditors. It is a self-check that allows us to be certain we are carrying out our mission, and when it is done right, can help us improve what we are doing.

Please join me in preparing for the HLC accreditation visit and hosting the HLC team. The Assessment Office is holding "coffee breaks" where you can learn more about the HLC accreditation process and review potential interview questions. The days and times for Assessment Office's "coffee breaks" are found at this link: AState.edu/Assessment

The HLC team will hold two meetings for members of the faculty and staff. The faculty session will be held Monday, March 5, at 10:40 a.m. -11:40 a.m. The staff session will be held Tuesday, March 6, at 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. We will send you the locations for these sessions as soon as they are determined.

Ok, that is all for now. I know that is a lot to cover but there is a lot going on here (as there should be) and I want you to be as informed as you want to be. Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend, my friends. I am proud to serve alongside you and I am encouraged by the signs of a great future.

Kelly