University of West Georgia improves student retention and saves time by moving FERPA waivers online
Based in Carrollton, Georgia, University of West Georgia serves over 8,600 undergraduate students with 46 bachelor degree programs. Before 2021, one challenge that permeated across campus was navigating an outdated, manual FERPA waiver process. The UWG team wanted to move away from using paper forms for FERPA waivers, as it was tedious and time consuming. They also wanted to create a more centralized place for faculty and staff to access FERPA waivers.
Given the institution’s large first-generation and low-income student population with high need, UWG recognizes the importance of sharing resources not only with their students, but also with their families to help them stay informed and on track. With a strategic family engagement plan, they knew they could channel parent influence into better results.
“It helps to treat parents as partners so students can get the
information that’s necessary for them to succeed. Parents and
family members are involved and play a big role in that.”
– Olubanke Taiwo, Assistant Director of Student Experience at UWG
UWG turned to CampusESP to move their FERPA waiver process online and engage families to improve student outcomes. And so far, UWG’s results surely speak to the successful transformation they’ve seen on campus. UWG has achieved a 24% higher retention rate for students with a parent receiving updates, and experienced a 93% decrease in paper forms processed each month. That’s 38 full workdays of staff time saved (and counting!).
Student retention improves significantly with family engagement
Through CampusESP for FERPA Management, UWG families can receive updates on important student information – such as holds, financial aid requirements, and grades – when their student grants access through a digital FERPA waiver. With easy visibility into student progress, families are alerted when it’s time to step in and get involved.
CampusESP compared the retention rate for 295 full-time, first-year students who were enrolled at UWG in Fall 2021 and had a family member receiving updates on their progress to students whose families did not receive similar updates. The data showed that 97% of first-year students were retained when a FERPA waiver in CampusESP was completed, which is 24% higher than UWG’s institutional retention rate. When CampusESP conducted the same analysis across nine other universities, student retention was 8% higher, on average.
“The data reaffirms that it’s working and shows the real life impact for our students,” said Ashlee Pollard, Director of Student Solutions & Momentum Center at UWG. “I’m excited to share information like this at future orientation dates to show families that they have a massive role in their student’s ability to be successful when they get access to correct information from the source. It’s inspiring, especially for first-gen parents.”
UWG saves staff time from massive decrease in processed paper forms
Prior to using CampusESP, UWG processed an average of 120 paper waiver forms each month. Now, they only average 8 per month. That comes out to a 93% decrease in the number of paper forms processed per month since launching CampusESP.
UWG took things a step further to calculate their exact time savings impact from FERPA processing improvements. It takes up to 10 minutes of staff time to manually enter each individual paper form into their campus SIS, Banner. As a result of having to do less manual data entry, UWG has saved 38 full workdays of staff time over an 18-month period.
“Freeing up our time is a game changer for how much more service we’re able to offer from within our office if we’re not having to process paperwork,” said Pollard.
Processes have also been streamlined for other UWG departments involved in looking up FERPA waivers. Before using CampusESP, faculty and staff would contact the Momentum Center to see if a student had a waiver on file. Now, the process is much more simple – more than 150 faculty and staff use CampusESP to look up FERPA waivers. Everything FERPA related is managed within one single platform, saving UWG faculty and staff even more time and effort.
“It’s not just a time saver for those of us that have to process the paper forms, but it’s a time saver for other campus partners as well,” said Taiwo. “It creates better partnerships with other teams on campus because the process has become so much easier.”
Everything is managed in the same place for students and families as well. Since July 2021, 1,844 UWG families have requested access to their student’s academic and financial information in CampusESP. By continuing to enable families to partner in their student’s college journey, UWG foresees even greater results in the years ahead.
“Ultimately, partnering with CampusESP is like adding an additional member to our team!”
Curious how you can get similar results for your institution?