Managing the Whole Student Life Cycle: A Handbook for Higher Ed

Make retention a whole-campus initiative in more than just name. From matriculation to graduation, walk through how to coordinate across enrollment management, student affairs, and academic affairs to create conditions and programs that drive student success.

In this era of declining high school graduate populations, competition between colleges to enroll students is fiercer than ever, provoking escalating costs to recruit, yield, and enroll each student. But while it is common for institutions to chart their recruiting return on investment, it is not yet a widespread practice for colleges to calculate the high cost of attrition.
Yet in a higher-ed climate where enrollment scarcity is the norm, strategic institutions are those that consider both student input and student throughput. The goal is not just to admit, yield, and enroll, but also to create conditions and programs that support student success from matriculation to graduation. If such conditions are to succeed, it is crucial that college and university leaders do not compartmentalize the stages of the student life cycle, but plan comprehensively to manage the entire student pipeline.

Paul Marthers' Managing the Whole Student Life Cycle offers a thorough guide to reconsidering that life cycle holistically. Each chapter reviews practical approaches that have taken root and shown demonstrated success at varied institutions, offers worksheets to prompt thinking and application at your own campus, and suggests practical next steps. Topics addressed include:

• The role of faculty on the front lines of student success
• Establishing equity in student success programs
• Keeping students on track from matriculation to graduation
• Creating an articulated, integrated, and unifying undergraduate experience
• Removing policy and procedural barriers to completion
• Helping students develop grit and resilience
• Using data and metrics in student success

In this 600-page handbook, you'll find specific approaches to consider and questions to challenge prevailing perspectives, as well as a roadmap for holistic student-success planning across enrollment management, student affairs, and academic affairs.

Reviews

“Managing the Whole Student Life Cycle is a must-read for every higher education professional. Dr. Paul Marthers provides essential insights and actionable solutions that have the potential to take student success to a whole new level.” —Christy England, Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, State University System of Florida Board of Governors

“Marthers has taken strategic enrollment management to the next logical step in its evolution. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the student life cycle and provides tangible solutions.” —Robert J. Alexander, Dean of Admissions, Financial Aid, and Enrollment Management, University of Rochester

“Managing the Whole Student Life Cycle is an indispensable guide to reforming student success.” —Dwight A. McBride, President & University Professor at The New School

“Many higher education institutions are at a tipping point—confronting the dual crisis of fewer students and lagging completion rates. Managing the Whole Student Life Cycle puts the student, not the institution, at the center of our work and provides a roadmap and multiple examples to support leaders in breaking down silos and enhancing ROI for both institutions and students.” —Jason E. Lane, Dean of the College of Education, Health, and Society at Miami University and co-editor of Higher Education Systems Redesigned: From Perpetuation to Innovation to Student Success

“Excellent book. Lots of takeaways. I could see this book used by campus teams that are now struggling to address ‘melt’ and ‘student engagement’ challenges.” —Liz Droz, Associate Dean of Students, State University of New York at Oswego