Social media for retention: Are colleges missing opportunities?

By Ann McClure. How paying attention to what students are posting online can be used to help them stay in school. When a student starts tweeting expletives about your institution for the whole world to potentially see, it’s probably time to find out the reason for the lash out and do some damage control.
Beverly Low, dean of first-year students at Colgate University in New York, reached out to one such student and ended up having three meetings with her. “They were meaningful conversations, too,” Low says, adding that the student was more likely to come and talk in person than vent on social media in the future. Forming such connections can be the difference between a student persisting or separating. So campus leaders shouldn’t overlook the importance of keeping an eye on social media and following up on dropout situations that may be just waiting to happen. More...