NICC's effort to keep students in school through graduation is paying off

Northeast Iowa Community College is beginning to have more success retaining students.  From fall 2012 to fall 2013, the percentage of students who either graduated or returned the following fall semester increased from 47.4 percent to 56.4 percent, a nine percent increase over the previous school year.

NICC President Liang Chee Wee attributes the higher numbers to the college's efforts to engage students and understand each student's individual circumstances – especially situations that may prompt their withdrawal from NICC.  "There are four key pieces in the cycle of our success with students – recruitment, retention, completion and employment. We want to bring students to Northeast Iowa Community College and help them to persist in their academic programs and graduate, so that they may pursue family-sustaining careers," Dr. Wee explained. "Some of our part-time students are working two to three part-time jobs, but the jobs they have are not sustaining them and their families. We want to retain students to complete their programs at NICC and to secure meaningful employment."

Because the majority of NICC students are also low-income – 56 percent of credit students qualified for federal PELL grants and 80 percent applied for some type of financial aid in 2013 – the college froze tuition and fees for the 2013-2014 academic year to reduce costs to students. NICC is looking for ways to freeze tuition again for the 2014-2015 year.

"The trend we see is when the economy is doing well our enrollment tends to go down; people have more access to jobs, although they are not always quality jobs. When the economy is not doing well, people come to us," said Dr. Wee. "What we believe at NICC is that everyone should invest in their education and training during a healthy economy, not only when the economy turns south. A college degree and additional training leads to a better financial future."