Retention rates are on the rise at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Interim Provost Dr. Susan Ford says the preliminary retention rate this year is 68.4-percent – an eight-percent increase from last year and the highest number SIU-C has seen since 2009.

Ford says the number can be credited in part to the Retention Task Force started in 2012. She says the task force is split into 12 different committees, like the committee working on helping students get through the introductory math course.

“They are continuing to work on ways that they can use data they’ve collected to identify students who are at risk by week three and try to invasively intervene… to say, ‘Hey, we think you can pass, if you just let us help you a little more.'”

The retention rate for students with an ACT score at or below 18 is also up – 58 percent this year compared to 45.6 percent last year.

Ford says SIU has a history of recruiting low-income and provisional students, and other universities in the state either don’t bother recruiting those students or put strict limits on the number of provisional students they admit, so the problem seems worse at SIU.

“Students that come more poorly prepared academically, which is one of the things that may be reflected in lower ACT scores, are going to have a harder time. That’s true with whatever institution they go to.”

Ford delivered the preliminary retention figures Wednesday to the SIU Board of Trustees. She says other figures, like four-or-five year graduation rates, are not available yet.