Accessibility Statement Skip Navigation
  • Why PRWeb
  • How It Works
  • Who Uses It
  • Pricing
  • Login
  • GDPR
  • Create a Free Account
Return to PRWeb homepage
  • News
  • Resources
  • Contact
When typing in this field, a list of search results will appear and be automatically updated as you type.

Searching for your content...

No results found. Please change your search terms and try again.
  • News in Focus
      • Browse News Releases

      • All News Releases
      • Multimedia Gallery

      • All Multimedia
      • All Photos
      • All Videos
  • Business & Money
      • Auto & Transportation

      • Aerospace, Defense
      • Air Freight
      • Airlines & Aviation
      • Automotive
      • Maritime & Shipbuilding
      • Railroads and Intermodal Transportation
      • Supply Chain/Logistics
      • Transportation, Trucking & Railroad
      • Travel
      • Trucking and Road Transportation
      • View All Auto & Transportation

      • Business Technology

      • Blockchain
      • Broadcast Tech
      • Computer & Electronics
      • Computer Hardware
      • Computer Software
      • Data Analytics
      • Electronic Commerce
      • Electronic Components
      • Electronic Design Automation
      • Financial Technology
      • High Tech Security
      • Internet Technology
      • Nanotechnology
      • Networks
      • Peripherals
      • Semiconductors
      • View All Business Technology

      • Entertain­ment & Media

      • Advertising
      • Art
      • Books
      • Entertainment
      • Film and Motion Picture
      • Magazines
      • Music
      • Publishing & Information Services
      • Radio & Podcast
      • Television
      • View All Entertain­ment & Media

      • Financial Services & Investing

      • Accounting News & Issues
      • Acquisitions, Mergers and Takeovers
      • Banking & Financial Services
      • Bankruptcy
      • Bond & Stock Ratings
      • Conference Call Announcements
      • Contracts
      • Cryptocurrency
      • Dividends
      • Earnings
      • Earnings Forecasts & Projections
      • Financing Agreements
      • Insurance
      • Investments Opinions
      • Joint Ventures
      • Mutual Funds
      • Private Placement
      • Real Estate
      • Restructuring & Recapitalization
      • Sales Reports
      • Shareholder Activism
      • Shareholder Meetings
      • Stock Offering
      • Stock Split
      • Venture Capital
      • View All Financial Services & Investing

      • General Business

      • Awards
      • Commercial Real Estate
      • Corporate Expansion
      • Earnings
      • Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
      • Human Resource & Workforce Management
      • Licensing
      • New Products & Services
      • Obituaries
      • Outsourcing Businesses
      • Overseas Real Estate (non-US)
      • Personnel Announcements
      • Real Estate Transactions
      • Residential Real Estate
      • Small Business Services
      • Socially Responsible Investing
      • Surveys, Polls and Research
      • Trade Show News
      • View All General Business

  • Science & Tech
      • Consumer Technology

      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Blockchain
      • Cloud Computing/Internet of Things
      • Computer Electronics
      • Computer Hardware
      • Computer Software
      • Consumer Electronics
      • Cryptocurrency
      • Data Analytics
      • Electronic Commerce
      • Electronic Gaming
      • Financial Technology
      • Mobile Entertainment
      • Multimedia & Internet
      • Peripherals
      • Social Media
      • STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering, Math)
      • Supply Chain/Logistics
      • Wireless Communications
      • View All Consumer Technology

      • Energy & Natural Resources

      • Alternative Energies
      • Chemical
      • Electrical Utilities
      • Gas
      • General Manufacturing
      • Mining
      • Mining & Metals
      • Oil & Energy
      • Oil and Gas Discoveries
      • Utilities
      • Water Utilities
      • View All Energy & Natural Resources

      • Environ­ment

      • Conservation & Recycling
      • Environmental Issues
      • Environmental Policy
      • Environmental Products & Services
      • Green Technology
      • Natural Disasters
      • View All Environ­ment

      • Heavy Industry & Manufacturing

      • Aerospace & Defense
      • Agriculture
      • Chemical
      • Construction & Building
      • General Manufacturing
      • HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning)
      • Machinery
      • Machine Tools, Metalworking and Metallurgy
      • Mining
      • Mining & Metals
      • Paper, Forest Products & Containers
      • Precious Metals
      • Textiles
      • Tobacco
      • View All Heavy Industry & Manufacturing

      • Telecomm­unications

      • Carriers and Services
      • Mobile Entertainment
      • Networks
      • Peripherals
      • Telecommunications Equipment
      • Telecommunications Industry
      • VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)
      • Wireless Communications
      • View All Telecomm­unications

  • Lifestyle & Health
      • Consumer Products & Retail

      • Animals & Pets
      • Beers, Wines and Spirits
      • Beverages
      • Bridal Services
      • Cannabis
      • Cosmetics and Personal Care
      • Fashion
      • Food & Beverages
      • Furniture and Furnishings
      • Home Improvement
      • Household, Consumer & Cosmetics
      • Household Products
      • Jewelry
      • Non-Alcoholic Beverages
      • Office Products
      • Organic Food
      • Product Recalls
      • Restaurants
      • Retail
      • Supermarkets
      • Toys
      • View All Consumer Products & Retail

      • Entertain­ment & Media

      • Advertising
      • Art
      • Books
      • Entertainment
      • Film and Motion Picture
      • Magazines
      • Music
      • Publishing & Information Services
      • Radio & Podcast
      • Television
      • View All Entertain­ment & Media

      • Health

      • Biometrics
      • Biotechnology
      • Clinical Trials & Medical Discoveries
      • Dentistry
      • FDA Approval
      • Fitness/Wellness
      • Health Care & Hospitals
      • Health Insurance
      • Infection Control
      • International Medical Approval
      • Medical Equipment
      • Medical Pharmaceuticals
      • Mental Health
      • Pharmaceuticals
      • Supplementary Medicine
      • View All Health

      • Sports

      • General Sports
      • Outdoors, Camping & Hiking
      • Sporting Events
      • Sports Equipment & Accessories
      • View All Sports

      • Travel

      • Amusement Parks and Tourist Attractions
      • Gambling & Casinos
      • Hotels and Resorts
      • Leisure & Tourism
      • Outdoors, Camping & Hiking
      • Passenger Aviation
      • Travel Industry
      • View All Travel

  • Policy & Public Interest
      • Policy & Public Interest

      • Advocacy Group Opinion
      • Animal Welfare
      • Congressional & Presidential Campaigns
      • Corporate Social Responsibility
      • Domestic Policy
      • Economic News, Trends, Analysis
      • Education
      • Environmental
      • European Government
      • FDA Approval
      • Federal and State Legislation
      • Federal Executive Branch & Agency
      • Foreign Policy & International Affairs
      • Homeland Security
      • Labor & Union
      • Legal Issues
      • Natural Disasters
      • Not For Profit
      • Patent Law
      • Public Safety
      • Trade Policy
      • U.S. State Policy
      • View All Policy & Public Interest

  • People & Culture
      • People & Culture

      • Aboriginal, First Nations & Native American
      • African American
      • Asian American
      • Children
      • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
      • Hispanic
      • Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual
      • Men's Interest
      • People with Disabilities
      • Religion
      • Senior Citizens
      • Veterans
      • Women
      • View All People & Culture

  • Hamburger menu
  • Cision PRWeb provides efficient communication tools to continuously engage with target audiences across multiple online channels
  • Create a Free Account
    • ALL CONTACT INFO
    • Contact Us


      11AM ET Sunday – 8PM ET Friday

  • Send a Release
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Resources
  • RSS
  • GDPR
  • News in Focus
    • Browse All News
    • Multimedia Gallery
  • Business & Money
    • Auto & Transportation
    • Business Technology
    • Entertain­ment & Media
    • Financial Services & Investing
    • General Business
  • Science & Tech
    • Consumer Technology
    • Energy & Natural Resources
    • Environ­ment
    • Heavy Industry & Manufacturing
    • Telecomm­unications
  • Lifestyle & Health
    • Consumer Products & Retail
    • Entertain­ment & Media
    • Health
    • Sports
    • Travel
  • Policy & Public Interest
  • People & Culture
    • People & Culture
  • Send a Release
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Resources
  • RSS
  • GDPR
  • Send a Release
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Resources
  • RSS
  • GDPR
  • Send a Release
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Resources
  • RSS
  • GDPR

Paul Smith’s College Improves Student Retention by 17 Percent Through Comprehensive Student Support Program
  • USA - English


News provided by

Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc.

Jan 30, 2014, 03:00 ET

Share this article

Share toX

Share this article

Share toX


Arlington, VA (PRWEB) January 30, 2014 -- Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc., a leading student success company, announced that Paul Smith’s College’s Comprehensive Student Support Program is credited with improving first-time, full-time student retention by 17 percent for the fall 2013 term. The gain is the latest in a series of impressive results born of a multiyear initiative to help students at Paul Smith’s College achieve success in their academic pursuits.

Our Comprehensive Student Support Program – powered by the Starfish system – has had a profound impact on our campus community and, most important, on the success of our students.

Post this

For its work, Paul Smith’s College was granted a 2013 Starfish 360 Award™ by a panel of independent judges. The Starfish 360 Awards Program is designed to highlight client institutions that are using technology to help students in innovative and impactful ways. The institution plans to use the monetary award to introduce “engagement lunches” intended to foster connections between transitional students and their faculty advisors.

Paul Smith’s College is a four-year private institution in New York. By almost every measure, its student population is considered high risk. Nearly half are first-generation college students. More than 40 percent of first-year students are eligible for Pell grants. Over the past decade, a variety of support services had been implemented to improve student retention, including the creation of an Office of Retention. Nevertheless, the institution was not able to overcome these inherent risk factors, resulting in persistent low retention and graduation rates.

In 2010, the institution began a new approach through the creation of a Comprehensive Student Support Program. The program emerged from the institution’s inclusive and campus-wide self-study and strategic planning processes, which identified problems with the institution’s information flow and communication management between faculty and student support offices.

The program is built on four principles: (1) changing from retention to a student success focus, (2) using real-time information and an automated communication hub to coordinate student support efforts, (3) keeping the information and communications plan as simple and intuitive as possible, and (4) utilizing a change management theory to smooth obstacles to implementation.

“It was during our planning process that we realized that we could not succeed without technology to break down information silos, ensure that everyone was on the same page regarding the student’s situation and to increase our efficiency, because we would be dramatically increasing the number of students we were attempting to serve,” said Loralyn Taylor, Ph.D., director of institutional research and registrar at the college. Hence, Paul Smith’s College licensed the Starfish® Enterprise Success Platform™.

Using the Starfish platform solved the institution’s information and communication problems and enabled a change in campus culture from a retention model to a student success focus. In addition, the platform helped the institution get the right student to the right service at the right time.

“Since its founding, Paul Smith’s College has been committed to changing lives through education. However, this has not always been an easy task,” said John Mills, Ph.D., president of the college. “Our Comprehensive Student Support Program – powered by the Starfish system – has had a profound impact on our campus community and, most important, on the success of our students. As a result, more than 100 students are attending Paul Smith’s College who would not have been here if this initiative had not succeeded.”

In addition to the gains in first-time, full-time retention, the program has also resulted in an 11.4 percent increase in term grade point averages above a 2.0, a 38 percent decrease in students on probation or suspension, a 53 percent decrease in withdraws, and a return on investment of more than $3 million across 2.5 years.

The Starfish Enterprise Success Platform builds on the company’s mission to help students finish what they start. Comprising four distinct but connected modules, the platform enables institutions to view all of their campus data and activities through the lens of student success. Starfish EARLY ALERT enables institutions to learn more about their students as early as possible. Starfish CONNECT makes it easy for students to engage with those on campus dedicated to their success. Starfish ADVISING gives students an academic path to follow in order to achieve success. And Starfish INSIGHT, which will be available in 2014, will enable institutions to measure the effectiveness of their student success initiatives.

“The Starfish 360 Awards Program judges were impressed by Paul Smith’s strategic use of technology to enable a new campus culture. In addition, the judges appreciated the institution’s tremendous efforts to share their experiences with the higher education community through countless presentations, white papers, and journal articles,” said David Yaskin, CEO of Starfish Retention Solutions. “Their hard work has resulted in impressive results – the greatest of which is knowing that more than 100 additional students are able to continue pursuing their goals because of the institution’s dedication to help all students finish what they start.”

Webinar Invitation: Loralyn Taylor, Ph.D., director of institutional research and registrar, and Virginia McAleese, professor, will be discussing Paul Smith’s College’s Comprehensive Student Support Program on Thursday, Feb. 20, at 2 p.m. ET. Register at https://www..gotomeeting.com/register/943597102 [https://www..gotomeeting.com/register/943597102 __title__ https://www..gotomeeting.com/register/943597102].

About Starfish Retention Solutions

Starfish Retention Solutions is a leading provider of student success systems. The Starfish Enterprise Success Platform™ consists of four software modules that collectively harness the power of the campus community in order to help students finish what they start. Specifically, the modules help institutions identify at-risk students in real time based on their daily coursework performance and faculty concerns and then connect them to the resources designed to help (e.g., advising or tutoring), all while assessing which services and interventions are working. For more information, please call 703.260.1186 or visit http://www.starfishsolutions.com.

John Plunkett, Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc., http://www.starfishsolutions.com, +1 (703) 260-1186 Ext: 1185, [email protected]

Modal title

Contact PRWeb

  • 11AM ET Sunday – 8PM ET Friday
  • Contact Us

About PRWeb

  • About PRWeb
  • Partners
  • Partnership Programs
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Resources

Why PRWeb

  • Why PRWeb
  • How It Works
  • Who Uses It
  • Pricing

Accounts

  • Create a Free Account
  • Log in
  • Contact Us

Do not sell or share my personal information:

  • Submit via [email protected] 
  • Call Privacy toll-free: 877-297-8921

Contact Cision

Products

About

My Services
  • All News Releases
  • Online Member Center
  • ProfNet
Cision Distribution Helpline
888-776-0942
  • Legal
  • Site Map
  • RSS
  • Cookie Settings
Copyright © 2025 Cision US Inc.