Case Study: Indiana University East achieves improved student retention with Ruffalo Noel Levitz

Indiana University East - Customer Case Study

Indiana University East faced falling enrollment after transitioning from a community-based two- and four-year institution to a traditional baccalaureate and master’s university and needed to raise retention rates to offset that decline. The campus partnered with Ruffalo Noel Levitz to develop a strategic retention plan to address these challenges.

Ruffalo Noel Levitz helped Indiana University East implement a seven-area retention strategy that included hiring a retention coordinator, changing the advising model for four-year students, and creating mandatory new-student orientation and a first-year seminar. Within the first year first-to-second-year retention rose for full-time students (59.7% to 61.7%), part-time students (30.8% to 35.0%), and transfer students (64.7% to 65.0%), with fall-to-spring retention also improving the following year; the university now aims to raise its graduation rate by at least ten percentage points.

Indiana University East

Larry Richards

Executive Vice Chancellor