New ‘How to College’ seminars tackle first-year challenges

Two years ago, Central Michigan University set out to increase retention rates by introducing Student Success Seminars. The program, designed for students with a first-semester grade point average below 2.0, is already seeing positive results, with students who complete the course experiencing a 12.5% higher retention rate than those who do not.

Building off that success, Executive Director of Academic Advising and Student Success Evan Montague saw Go Grant funding as an opportunity to take that idea one step further by connecting with incoming freshmen as they begin their academic journey.

“I go back to the theme of ‘student success early is better,’” Montague said. “So, we came up with this concept of ‘How to College’.”

The joint effort between academic advising and the Counseling Center covers how to handle some of the biggest challenges new students face, including time and stress management, academic success, finding your fit on campus and making friends.

“The group we were really trying to target is the group that's not connected to anything else,” he said. “Our intention is to build this out as a 0-credit hour course that, during orientation, we can plug into students who may be more in need of that kind of option.”

The first iteration of the “How to College” seminars this past fall brought students together for one hour a week for four straight weeks with sessions facilitated by the advising and counseling teams. Montague’s team plans to apply the findings and feedback from the initial participants to future sessions as the seminars continue to evolve.

“Our hope is to have this all positioned as we go on to new student orientation next summer,” he said. “We can then use it almost more as a prescriptive measure.”

Students in need of continued support can take part in the Student Success Seminars this spring to help keep them on track.

Go Grants in Action is a year-long series that shares the stories of how CMU students, faculty and staff are making a positive impact on the people and communities we serve through the Go Grants initiative.