U. seeks to give more undergraduates diplomas

A new plan targets students who have completed most requirements but still owe Penn money. More undergraduate students will receive their diplomas at Commencement if a new administrative initiative succeeds in improving undergraduate retention rates. The new plan creates a more integrated academic and financial advising system across the four undergraduate schools in an effort to improve the University's 87.6 percent graduation rate. It targets students who have completed all or most of their degree requirements but are on financial hold due to outstanding payments, a group representing about a quarter of the 12.4 percent of the student body which does not graduate. "This is a new liaison system for helping undergraduates work through the maze of undergraduate life," said Deputy Provost Michael Wachter, who helped design the initiative. One part of the new program will provide a more flexible loan system for current students and those who should have already graduated. But the main thrust will be toward providing students with "consistent financial and academic advising," Wachter said, adding that the program is part of the University's Agenda for Excellence. The 9 percent of students who fail to graduate for non-financial reasons include those who transfer out of Penn, who don't satisfy academic requirements or who decide not to finish college, Wachter explained. The new plan will have little effect in easing those hurdles to graduation. Advisers from the four undergraduate schools will be trained to learn to identify students who are struggling to balance academic and financial strains, such as demanding job schedules. And at least one adviser from each school will serve as the liaison to the Student Financial Services office, thus having access to student financial records. In the Wharton School, for example, eight advisers will receive training to handle both academic and financial concerns. "This new program simply makes it easier to reach students," Wharton Associate Dean Richard Herring said. "By sharing information more broadly, we should be able to be more helpful to anyone having troubles." Herring emphasized that most advisers won't have access to students' financial details, though he didn't say which ones would. Although the University's graduation rate is well above the 70 percent average at private universities across the country, Penn falls behind all Ivy League universities except Columbia. Wachter said the disparity between Penn and most of the Ivies is partly because the University has four undergraduate schools, resulting in a less centralized advising system. The new program aims to offer intervention to students more quickly, Herring said. Wachter added that "these are students who have made a big investment in us, and we've made a big investment in them?.We have a need to reach them." And Engineering advising coordinator Katherine Becht, who will serve as an Engineering adviser, said "we've never had a mechanism for reaching these students before -- now we have the eyes and ears to reach them." Frank Claus and Bill Schilling from Student Financial Services, Institutional Research Director Barney Lentz and undergraduate deans and advisers have been working on this effort for the past nine months, Wachter said. Leaders of the project also said they hope the increased faculty presence in the residences -- part of the recently released residential plan -- will help reach out to students.