Retention Strategies for Adult Learners

By Bianca Aguirre | May 8, 2023

My name is Bianca Aguirre, and I am an adjunct counselor at Orange Coast College. I have been working at this college for 4.5 years, and I specifically work with the Adult Education population. My main tasks include academic and career counseling, classroom workshops, case management, adult school collaboration, and some outreach work.

Pilot Practice:

A challenge I am addressing is student retention. Adult learners often bring with them a unique set of challenges. Family and work responsibilities, economic limitations, and disconnections from campus life are just a few challenges they face. The best approach to this problem is finding more effective ways to communicate. That is why I have started a Specialized Student Newsletter. This newsletter will promote programs, deadlines, workshops, registration timelines, and all the necessary information to be a successful college student.

How To:

We have recently introduced Adult Education Dual Enrollment in our district. As the OCC Adult Education counselor, I am responsible for creating their educational plans and completing their AE Dual Enrollment Form.

One of the requirements to participate in this program is that they meet with me every semester to complete the AE Dual Enrollment Form. Since summer registration is around the corner, I launched my first specialized newsletter. The newsletter was created explicitly for my Adult Ed Dual enrolled students. It provided the students with the registration dates, registration deadline, my availability, and link to the Summer 2023 schedule.

In total, I have 15 students in the AE Dual Program. After the email was sent, eight students responded to my email within a two-week time frame. Six of those eight students have met with me and completed their Dual Enrollment Form for the Summer. That is almost a 50% retention rate. That might seem like a little, but with the specialized newsletter, the retention rate would have been higher, especially since this program is relatively new.

Relevant Resources:

https://slate.org/

Insights Gained:

For many of these students, this is their first time in college. Therefore, it is always a little hard for them to adjust to their first semester in college. That is why it is important to be intentional about following up and making sure the student is adjusting appropriately.

Contact:

Stephanie Feger

Program Director

Coast District

sfeger@cccd.edu