The state of Kentucky's budget is, in my opinion, driving this change. All state schools are not only facing an across-the-board budget cut, but they're also being required to meet certain performance standards in order to receive funds (funds which used to be automatically included in their annual allocations). The more students who graduate, the more money the institution is able to receive; the opposite is also true - fewer graduates means less money.
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Originally Posted by thetalady
The University wants to increase UNIVERSITY retention rates, not sorority retention.
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Right. If UK retention falls, fewer students will graduate, which means less money from the state.
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Originally Posted by IndianaSigKap
I am not sure there is a mass exodus of women out there leaving due to recruitment. This seems like kind of a head scratcher.
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Each student is valuable (monetarily). Whatever the administration can do to keep any students from leaving is on the table.
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Originally Posted by clemsongirl
When you're trying to bump up retention even the smallest changes can help with keeping students.
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Right.
I have strong feelings about the lengths to which the university will go to continue funneling basketball phenoms through the one-and-done turnstiles, especially considering the way all non-(basketball)athletes are treated, but I'll try to keep those to myself.
Kentucky is a tough state to work in right now if you're in state-funded academia (or any other state-funded agency). In many ways, the students hold all the power. As potential future employees of the state, I would love to see them band together and fight. I worry that our state's budget crisis will result in our best and brightest going to other states to work. But that's another topic for another thread.
tl;dr?
It's all tied to money. More students = more money, and administrators will do (almost) anything they can to keep students happy/enrolled.
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