The MSFF Steering Committee is gathering member feedback and ideas on the critical student retention issues facing MSU Denver, and the strategy proposals currently being discussed. What is the University doing well and what areas can be improved? Share your success stories and constructive criticism. Where should resources be allocated to increase student retention and where can we trim without negatively impacting students, faculty, or staff?

We believe the problems surrounding student retention have little to do with the pedagogy in the classroom, but the financial hardships, administrative frustrations, and mental and physical health of our students. Rather than asking students directly and gathering data, the strategies coming forward are becoming faculty to-do lists and encroachments into our classrooms.

The MSFF Steering Committee therefore endorses the following series of principles to guide our efforts to improve retention:

• A clear, detailed, data-informed study of why students are dropping out
• An institution-wide approach that does not put all the onus, and the blame, on faculty
• A collaborative approach to decision-making that not only substantively includes faculty and staff, but gives us the necessary capacity to do so
• An integrated approach that recognizes that retention is inextricable from broader structural questions of workload, affordability, and preparedness that extend beyond the classroom and the university

Benefits for Students	Problems for Students
Academic • Compassionate & Available Faculty • Professional Advisors and Staff Support • Relevant Programs/Curriculum • Multi-modal Course Delivery for Flexibility • ‘High Impact Practices’ Already Implemented Non-Academic/Career • Athletics Programs • Wrap-Around Services • Social Activities & Personal Networks • Counseling, Health, and Access Centers • Career Guidance, Internships • Professional Opportunities & Community Partnerships	Financial • Tuition, High Fees, Parking, Supplies • Financial Aid/Work Study Inefficiencies • MSU Denver is consistently underfunded Registration/Administrative • Account & Banner Holds (slow to resolve) • Transfer Evaluations (slow to resolve) • Course Rotation & Schedule Type Confusions • Departmental Policies Preventing Self-Registration Life Issues • Mental/Physical Health Struggles • Employment, Housing, Child Care, Relationships • Time & Detail Management • Remedial Skills upon Admission Other • Campus Lockdown & Perceived Safety Concerns
Suggested Improvements	Suggested Improvements or Barrier Removal
Academic • • • Non Academic • • • Other • • •	Financial • • • Registration/Administrative • • • Life Issues • • •
Feedback on the Strategic Proposals
• • • •

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Want to see what others think? Here is the feedback.