The University of Maine at Presque Isle has been committed to retention issues for many years through a wide variety of strategies such as exit interviews, an early warning system, a Writing Center, and a Student Support Services grant that helps first generation students who are income eligible. Several years ago, the institution developed a first year seminar course to coincide with other retention efforts.

In December 2004, the University received word, along with a local high school in Caribou, that it had been selected to join four other university-high school partnerships in the Nellie Mae Education Foundation’s Partnerships for College Success grant program. The multi-year grant program is aimed at strengthening existing collaborations between universities and high schools that seek to improve college preparation and success for all students. It is the hope that through this grant, high school graduates will enter college better prepared to meet the rigors of collegiate life and be more likely to complete their degrees, thereby improving retention.

To further the University’s retention efforts, the institution was awarded a multi-year grant from the MELMAC Education Foundation to fund comprehensive implementation strategies that will enhance retention. These efforts are geared toward first time freshmen and incorporate a host of strategies including numerous efforts to better track and analyze data, so we can design engagement strategies around a culture of evidence.

With past retention efforts, a collaborative partnership with a high school, and a new focus on data-based strategies, the University is positioned to focus on a subset of our underserved population – Native American students.