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Sparse attendance undermined a forum discussion held Thursday night regarding the First Year Residential Experience (FYRE) plan, which will re-designate six residence halls as first-year only.
The event was coordinated between Kenda Scheele, associate dean of students; Tara Loomis, director of Residence life; E.J. Roach, director of the Connections Program; and Priyanth Chandrasekar, president of Student Government as well as several campus groups.
The event was attended by 15 people, approximately 10 of whom were undergraduate students who would be affected by the change. The event began with a PowerPoint presentation about the proposal, which discussed the reasons behind the changes in more detail.
The driving forces behind the change are retention and graduation rates. Currently, more then 20 percent of the first-year class withdraws or drops out.
“The largest single drop or loss of students is between year one and year two,” Dean Scheele said. Figures were presented showing the dismissal rate near 7 percent, and the withdrawal rate near 15 percent. “That means that one in five students will just go away … but there’s a lot of them that would stay if we just made a few changes.”
There is a direct correlation between retention rates and graduation rates. Schools with high retention rates have correspondingly high graduation rates. The graduation rate measures how many members of a given student group graduate. The four-year graduation rate at UMaine is roughly 31 percent, which at the time of the study made it the lowest graduation rate among all four-year land grant colleges in New England. UMaine also had the lowest retention rate.
“One of the things the connections program has done over the last few years is take a look at what other institutions are doing to improve their retention and graduation rates,” E.J. Roach said after presenting the above data. The connections program surveyed 96 other four-year degree-granting institutions and has implemented many changes based on what those schools with higher retention and graduation rates are doing.
The research indicates that the creation of a first-year residential area, coordinated with classes specifically tailored toward first-year students, is the next step for UMaine.
“We’re trying to move forward. We’re lagging behind,” Tara Loomis said, noting that almost every other school surveyed has already made these kinds of changes. “Everything that we are doing is supported by research. It’s not just us thinking, ‘well, this would be a good idea.’”
“I think this is an important thing for us. We’re not trying to hold the hands of first-year students. What we’re doing is providing the first-year students with all the tools they need … to survive that first year.”
The FYRE program will be located in the three residence halls on Hilltop and the three halls surrounding Stewart Commons. This area was chosen because a large number of first-year students already live in those areas and because the incoming class will just fit into those buildings.
“They will not fit any other place on campus,” Loomis said, adding that no other group of buildings are close enough together to make the program successful. “It’s about where can we make this fit.”
The three presenters were questioned on a range of topics by several students who attended including the availability of S-cubed for upperclassmen and the placement of FYRE next to the newly renovated Hilltop Commons and new recreation center.
There may be a limited availability for upperclassmen students to remain in S-cubed housing and there is also the possibility of more diverse ‘themed housing’ for upperclassmen.
“This is not an innovative approach; our peer institutions have been doing this for years. We need to get caught up,” Loomis said.
Chandrasekar, who introduced the speakers, embraced the plan. “People hate change,” he said. “It’s hard, but … someone has to make sacrifices for someone else’s benefit.”
