(US and Canada) Lori Lindenberg, District Director of Enterprise Analytics and Technology, Maricopa Community College, speaks with Reese Hartle, PubSec Senior Education Strategist at SHI, in a video interview about using data analytics to retain students and improve student experiences and outcomes.

Lindenberg makes informed decisions regarding college enrollment, completion, retention rates, and more based on data from the National Student Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse’s Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP) empowers higher education institutions with comprehensive data to help them understand, improve, and communicate student momentum, outcomes, and equity. Arizona’s Maricopa County Community College District, which serves nearly 140,000 students, sees the PDP as an essential resource that helps them measure performance and identify equity gaps among the student population.

Sharing her experience, Lindenberg says that a lot of time and effort is spent ensuring the data is ready to comply with federal and state government regulations. She also breaks down her goal into two categories:

• To have the student experience driving decisions
• To use modern technology to automate as much of that compliance reporting function as possible

When asked to define return on investment, Lindenberg replies it is about improving the student experience. It includes quantitative methodologies such as ROI calculations with the STEM initiative, student applications, enrollment, and tuition dollars collected. Student retention is another tuition revenue capture, she notes. Lindenberg also mentions other ROI metrics, such as improving completion and measuring societal contribution or wage outcomes.

Elaborating further, Lindenberg says that her team is heavily interested in understanding how much a student is making and whether they are fulfilled. Explaining why the first-year focus is critical for long-term retention, she says that about 49% of the students drop out in the first year. This led to modifying program pathways to ensure the support and guidance students need to navigate and stay on their academic path.

Lindenberg concludes the discussion by emphasizing the effort to communicate the data-driven approach to organizational leaders. She explains how her team tried a new direction — characterizing the student retention story in personas. They contrasted the experience of a traditional student with comprehensive support for higher education with the experience of a first-generation working parent, demonstrating how extra student support in the first year can impact retention.

CDO Magazine appreciates Lori Lindenberg for sharing her insights and data success stories with our global community.