Wayne State ~ Doing Great When Others Aren't!

0:00Well, I want to say was maybe last week, maybe the week before it's all blur. We did a story. We talked about how a number of schools, colleges around the country are seeing a decline. Yeah. And they're enrollment and enrollment. And obviously that's a huge problem for these universities and colleges, not so much for Wayne State. They enroll the record number of first year students this fall. And it's a positive sign that maybe Wayne State isn't quite approaching that enrollment cliff. Let's talk about it with Erica Matthews, Jackson, the senior director of admissions at Wayne State University. Erica, it's great to talk with you this morning. It's great to be with you. How is Wayne State doing this when so many other colleges across the country can't do it? Well, I will tell you it's difficult and challenging. And I think it's because we are an access institution that also focuses on affordability. And we know that one of the biggest barriers for students and families and their decision

1:00of whether or not their student is going to attend colleges, can we afford it? And for students, it's also challenging when they count themselves out and they don't think that college is going to be a pathway for them. So we really focus on removing as many barriers as possible in the application process. And then we've also focused on how can we make college more affordable with some of our tuition pledge programs like the Wayne State Guarantee, which provides free tuition for students who are eligible for the Michigan Achievement Scholarship. And we also have the heart of Detroit pledge because we're committed to making college accessible for the students that we serve in our own community. And so we've had the heart of Detroit pledge since 2019. And that provides free tuition for any high school student in Detroit who either lives in Detroit or attends a Detroit high school. So I would say that those two things together are what has helped us stay in the mix and

2:01make sure that Wayne State is an option for students and families in Michigan. You know, Erica, test optional admissions can also expand access. But how does Wayne State make sure that it's still, you know, identifying students who are academically prepared? That is a great question. And one of the things I love about Wayne State is that we are a research institution. So a lot of the decisions that we make are data informed decisions. And one of the things that we decided before we even went test optional was taking a look at the students who've been admitted to Wayne State. And are they continuing on? Are they able to graduate and leave Wayne State with a degree? And so we worked closely with our colleagues in student success and we were able to identify what is the profile of a student, the academic profile of a student who's able to be successful here. And one of the things that we found is students with a cumulative 3.0 GPA in high school are doing well. They're graduating. They're continuing on from year one to year two. And so when we started our test optional policy, one of the reasons we did that was because

3:05of the pandemic and the test wasn't available. But what we realized even after we became test optional is our test optional students were doing this as well as our students who were applying with test scores. So we focused on how our students doing in high school, looking at the four years of high school to determine whether or not they're going to be academically prepared for college. And so in addition to being test optional, we're also part of the Michigan Assured Admissions Pat, which is 11 of the 15 public schools in Michigan. Let high school students in Michigan know that as long as you have a cumulative 3.0 GPA in high school, you're admissible to all of these institutions, including Wayne State, all you need to do is submit your application and your transcript. So we've removed a lot of the mystery about MI even going to be admissible to college. But we've done that again based on making sure that we're researching and making sure that our institution is prepared to help them succeed. So getting them in the door is step one. You're up 5% from last year.

4:06That's huge news. But then how do you retain them? How do you keep them so that they actually end up with the diploma that says Wayne State on it? Absolutely. So again, one of the things that we've done is really focused on student success as well as that. We've all transitioned to college. So our student success team now has a dedicated office college transition initiatives. So they really focus on from the moment of student comes on campus for orientation. They have a series of programs throughout the summer to continue to help students get that sense of belonging. That's one of the things that we've determined is one of the best factors in figuring out whether students are going to be successful in college. Do they have a connection? Do they have a sense of belonging? Because that's as important to making sure that they're going to be able to focus and do well academically. So Wayne State has invested in student support services. And we have an academic success center. We have this college transition team that does things in the summer like pizza with professionals

5:07where they can come in and network with faculty and staff. And then that they do programs on like financial literacy, make sure that once they get to college and mom and dad might not be there, that they're making financially sound decisions. They know how to budget and they understand what it means for them to invest in themselves in college so that they can go on and have the careers that they want. So a lot of the work has been done over a long period of time. I'm talking like the last 10 years or more. And that's why we are doing as well as we are. And that's why our college graduation rates are have improved. That's why your one to year two retention rates have improved. And that's why we're in a track of institution for students and families because parents want to know when I send my students to college that there's going to be a return on that investment. They're going to be able to get a job and they're going to be able to be productive members of their society. Really interesting stuff. Obviously great news for Wayne State. Keep it up. And we'll look for that 5% bump again next year.

6:10Oh my gosh. Well, thank you for your belief. It's job security. Erica, that's what it is. We appreciate you. Erica Matthews Jackson. That's right. We'll talk to you very soon. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, you got it. Well, I mean, you know, it is good news. And, you know, nationally, we are expected to see, you know, if you are traditional college age students. So I got a figure two that not just, you know, Wayne State, but other colleges will, you know, start really increasing that recruit recruitment of maybe some transfer students or, you know, a lot of working adults who want to go back and finish something that they didn't finish, you know, those are their game as well. They're fair game. Sure. How about this? A new South Korean study is raising questions about mental health effects associated with prescription weight loss medications, GLP ones. Okay. Particularly among people who regain weight after treatment, researchers analyzed data from nearly 28,000 adults and found that people who reported using these prescription GLP

7:13ones were more likely to report depression. They were more likely to seek mental health counseling. They were experiencing suicidal thoughts and tendencies as opposed to non users of GLP ones. So the study of weight loss drug users night 1.9% times more likely to report depression twice as likely to seek mental health counseling, 2.7 times more likely to report suicidal thoughts. Now, researchers on this study say you can't come to a sweeping conclusion of this. It was observational. They found correlations, but it doesn't prove that the medication causes depression or suicidal tendencies. Gotcha. So, but it is, it is an interesting angle because some people that are dealing with, you know, excess weight that they don't want on. They go on the GLP ones. They find some success on it. And then if they stop and they regain the weight all of a sudden, it's like, man, I've got to go through this, you know, all this that I just lost. I just, it just went away. Yeah. And, you know, so yeah, I could, I could see people getting depressed about that.

8:14Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. All right. Coming up next. It's a Wednesday. It's time for name that tune. We'll do that next on J.Morning. It's Michigan and it's back to school, but temperatures will still get up there. So don't let high temperatures break your budget. I don't know. It consumers energy to help make the most of this season and your budget with tips and ways to save making small changes like shifting some energy used to the morning or evening, reason your thermostat a couple of degrees and doing laundry at night or on the weekends all can help lower your bill while keeping your home comfortable. Discover more ways to beat the heat at consumers energy dot com.