Southern Illinois University is working on building a retention plan that spans across campus.
SIU Chancellor Austin Lane, other school officials, and students gathered at the universities retention summit to discuss what the university can do to keep students around.
Chancellor Lane says the school has been working with David Shirley, a veteran data analyst, when it comes to SIU's retention data. Shirley presented this data at the summit.
"It's the good, the bad, and the ugly." says Chancellor Lane, "You know, you look at our overall rates, we look pretty good. We're about what everyone is nationally. When you start to dig into it by gender or by race there are some serious equity gaps that exist among students and we've got to clean that up."
As of now the school does not have a campus wide retention plan.
Chancellor Lane says that building a larger retention plan is in the works and that the university hopes to have one in effect for fall 2025.