Loren Kroh

Staff and faculty are encouraged to talk with management if they are dissatisfied too, but how often does that happen. We all want the authority figures to know when we're unhappy and automatically fix issues without a confrontation. Students have to be very angry or feel very comfortable for them to initiate a complaint.

Does this office also provide advising/counseling services? It sounds like you have some very dedicated, proactive people in that office. I hope everyone on the campus knows how fortunate you are.

Are there links to campus and community sources of help on the web site? What hours is the hot line open and who answers it?

It must be very gratifying to see how students and faculty respond to the needs of their own. Is there a particular person or department responsible for coordinating the fund raising activities?

Does a student have more than one person who handles the advising function? Is each instructor empowered to take this role?

How often are instructors observed by other instructors and managers? Does this become part of their performance evaluation? This can be a very productive practice.

How are the Student Services surveys distributed? Do you get a good response rate? Does the department publish the results?

The "shut down" student is quite a conundrum. Are these students who came to the Institution in this state or do they "work" their way into it? Is this an internal issue or a question of starting with damaged goods? Any thoughts on how to deal with them?

Do you survey them again in week 12, with a focus specifically on the courses just completed? What is the participation level? Is it different at week 4 vs. week 8? Do the survey results indicate satisfaction with the action that the school has taken to remedy problems identified in the first survey? Seems like a really good idea that could be a very effective way to demonstrate you commitment to student satisfaction.

Most schools have a Student Services department, but I don't think many are as engaged as yours. Do you know the budget per student? You don't have to save many students to cover the cost, whatever it is.