A Modest Proposal

into their home once they arrive at college. If a roof is leaking or the temperature is uncomfortable, they will not be able to concentrate on their academics, which could result in failure. Aside from the safe environment, the improvement of aesthetics could entice students to live on campus, increasing the revenue that would have been lost to outside companies. With enough recruitment and retention the project would pay for itself quickly. According to data from the National Center for Educational Statistics and the National Center for Educational Progress, four out of five college students are not proficient writers. This has been a reoccurring problems since 1998. Many factors contribute to this data, but it is evident that students

According the Economic Policy Institute, the unemployment rate for college graduates is 8.5% compared to 5.5% in 2007, and the underemployment rate is 16.8% compared to 9.6% in 2007. With the overwhelming amount of students not finding jobs matching their degree, a strong career center should be developed to assist students with the search process. Concurrently, a solid alumni network must be available for students to make the necessary connections outside of the university. These connection will contribute to a higher investment from alumni and potentially increase graduate employment rates. The graduates and alumni would then be able to provide financial support if they had a positive experience with the

Division I schools are especially important because they are in the top tier, meaning multiple people have invested interest in the program. If the university is disqualified from the division, several students, staff, faculty, and alumni would be upset, potentially disassociating themselves from the school. Highlighting the upgrade could recruit more students by increasing publicity and rebranding the athletics department. Since athletics is a popular department, it should pay off the deficit quickly, but in efforts to reduce the cost an increase in ticket sales or concessions could be considered. Finally, the last items that should be considered a priority is the addition of a retention specialist and purchase of StudentTracker, the software designed to track “at risk” students. Recruiting students is challenging, but retaining students is even harder. A full time staff will be able to analyze current retention trends affecting the university, while formulating a plan to train and assist employees with retention initiatives. The StudentTracker will be a valuable software to target students who need the most attention, but other initiatives will need to be created to get the most of out of the