Victoria Valle said she would like to have a talk with every student who withdraws from SIUC.
Valle, vice chancellor for enrollment management, said she believes if she could just find out why students are leaving, she might be able to stop some of them and correct the problem.
"Every single student is important to us," she said.
In 2005, the Daily Egyptian tracked five people through their first year at school. The project was an effort to report on the university's effort to improve retention.
The Daily Egyptian decided to find the original freshmen five and to study a new group. Three years later, at least three of the original five have left the university.
Despite administrators' rising concerns about enrollment, Valle said 2005-2006 was one of the worst years for retention. In fall 2005, there were 3,569 first-year students enrolled. The following year, the university had 2,766 second-year students - a difference of 803 people.
Although administrators have worked to fix the problem with a variety of efforts, including the hiring of Valle, the loss of students has not abated.
From fall 2006 to fall 2007, the university lost 671 of 2,222 first-time, full-time freshmen. According to the university's tuition and fees estimator, each of those students would have paid more than $3,400 per semester in tuition and fees, meaning the university lost more than $2.3 million for one semester.
This year, administrators took yet another step to learn what drives away new students with a program called First Year Experience.
Mark Amos, an associate professor of English and director of the program, said the program would provide freshmen with extra guidance and a special curriculum to help keep them engaged and enrolled.
Amos said the program would observe students "from the time they click on our Web site ... till the time they have enough credits to be promoted to sophomore year.
"What we're trying to do is find out what aspects of this we do well ... and what aspects we need to do better," he said.
Amos said he hopes this study will bring administrators and students closer.
"We'll be able to give students small-college care in a large-institutional setting," he said.
The new five
Sagnik Dey said he came to Carbondale from Kuwait to study mechanical engineering and because his uncle completed his master's degree at SIUC.
Dey said while this is his first time living in the United States, he has visited each of the 50 states. He said some of the major differences between southern Illinois and home are taxes and fuel cost.
"Fuel it would be like, it's damn cheap, like maybe a dollar for a gallon," he said.
Dey describes himself as extremely outgoing and said he loves meeting new people.
He said he has experienced a lot of firsts in the past two months, including doing his own laundry and making his own bed.
Dey said his family employed servants to do household chores, which he said was common in his neighborhood.
Dey said in his free time he loves to play soccer with his friends.
Sam Oas said he chose SIUC because he knew its aviation program was one of the best in the nation.
"I've always wanted to fly; I mean, it was being a Power Ranger, and then I wanted to fly a plane," he said.
He said he liked that it was kind of far from home, but not too far to drive.
Oas said Carbondale life is a lot more fast-paced than his hometown of Villa Park, a suburb of Chicago with roughly 22,000 residents, according to the 2000 Census.
He said he has been trying to become involved with Flight Ambassadors, a group that recruits students to the aviation program, but has to spend a year volunteering for the group before he can be accepted into the program.
Oas said he has made a completely new group of friends since coming to Carbondale.
Rob Jesselson said one of his favorite things about being at SIUC is living on his own.
He said he chose the university because the mass communications program is "top notch."
"Radio and television is my absolute dream," Jesselson said.
He said Carbondale has a much more exciting nightlife than home.
"Ten o'clock comes and nobody's out," he said about Glenview, a suburb of Chicago with roughly 40,000 residents, according to the 2000 Census.
Jesselson decided to join a fraternity and described his new brothers as "really awesome."
He said he wasn't going to rush but did because of how welcome he felt the first time he met the members of Delta Chi.
Although Jesselson lives in Thompson Point now, he said he is looking forward to moving off campus next year.
Brittany Murphy of Danville said she knew only two people when she came to SIUC.
Murphy, who studies electrical and computer engineering, said she is taking almost all honors courses and definitely prefers college life to high school.
"The people here just make me feel really welcome," she said.
Murphy is deaf and wears a cochlear implant but said it does not change her experiences at SIUC.
"It's just part of my day," she said.
Murphy said she loves to play volleyball and Frisbee with her friends.
Jessica Tureaud, who studies journalism, said she came to Carbondale on a last-minute whim.
She said she thought she wanted to stay close her hometown of Lynwood, but decided she wanted to get away and experience college in a different environment.
Tureaud said she is still getting used to being on her own.
"Still getting used to doing everything myself, getting up, making myself go to school and class and getting out of bed," she said.
She said school became manageable once she learned how to separate work and play.
Christian Holt can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 259 or cholt@siu.edu.
