Higher Education

Course Project: White Paper: Proposed Solution

Please review the Course Project Overview (found under Week 1) before beginning this assignment. ***see below***

***** Assignment gather, prepare a brief, research-based white paper that proposes at least two programs or services designed to increase the first-to-second-year retention rate at the institution described on the fact sheet.(see attached) Include a brief analysis of the costs/benefits of each approach. Focus your investigation on the research of Vincent Tinto and George Kuh on the retention of student from the first to second year of college. 

For each service or program, include the following: ***information must be in paper**

· A rationale explaining why it is likely to positively impact first-year student retention

· A brief analysis of potential costs (i.e., political, financial, etc.). It is not necessary to quantify potential costs; a narrative description of the type of cost required, such as salaries, development costs, or equipment, is perfectly acceptable.

(Assignment length: 3 pages)

***WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENT review *** NOTHING TO DO HERE JUST INFO***

The complex problems facing colleges and universities today cannot be solved without gathering information. Often, the resulting recommendations are presented in a report called a white paper.

In this course you will prepare a white paper on solutions to a student success challenge faced by many colleges and universities: a low first-to-second-year retention rate. To inform your white paper, you will conduct research on student retention and support structures on other campuses. You will investigate the horizontal and vertical organization of programs and services as well as their costs and benefits. Your final product will be a white paper that proposes solutions for the retention challenge.

Project Outline

You will use the following scenario as the basis for your project:

You are the Director of Student Affairs at a large, urban, multicampus community college (more information on your college's mission, programs, and student population can be found in  this document ).

The Provost of your college is concerned about the institution's first-to-second-year retention rate. She has asked you to investigate. The result of your investigation will be a white paper proposing institutional interventions that will keep students from leaving after their first year. In order to prepare the white paper, you will need to research first-to-second-year retention and the structure and dynamics of student support at real institutions. Focus your investigation on the research of Vincent Tinto and George Kuh on the retention of student from the first to second year of college.