Case Study: Walsh University improves retention rates with Ruffalo Noel Levitz

How Walsh University raised its average retention rate over their last 7 cohorts

Walsh University, a small private Roman Catholic university in Canton, Ohio, wanted to improve student retention and completion after its rates fell toward the middle of the range for schools enrolling students with ACT scores between 20 and 26. Nearly all of its 2,600 undergraduate students receive some form of financial aid or tuition guarantee, so the university needed to keep the right students enrolled through graduation. It turned to Ruffalo Noel Levitz for support.

Beginning in 2013, Walsh University used Ruffalo Noel Levitz’s Student Retention Predictor, College Student Inventory, and Advanced FinAid Solutions, along with a communication and outreach plan for re-yielding students and a re-formed Retention and Student Success Leadership Team. The university’s retention rate reached 82.6 percent in 2015 and settled at an average of 76.3 percent over the last seven cohorts, above its goal of 78 percent to 80 percent.

Walsh University