My daughter transferred out of SJU to another University at the end of her Freshman year (Spring 2015). It was the right decision for her, as we were very unhappy and disappointed with the school. I am curious, however, as to what the overall Freshman retention rate was for that year, because it certainly seemed as though her fellow students transferred out in droves along with her. She noticed a large exodus right after she got back from Winter break, and as conditions deteriorated and she started the Transfer process herself, she was not alone amongst her close friends in wanting to leave. Of those she left behind, several more transferred at the end of December 2015. I’ve been waiting to see confirmation of what the Freshman Retention Rate was for that time period, but have been unable to find it anywhere. If anyone has info, please post a link or let me know. Thanks.
Why did your daughter transfer? I hope she is doing well.
The list of reasons why she left are too numerous to mention them all, but the main reasons: we were very disappointed in the lack of overall leadership at the University (the President resigned after getting a vote of no confidence from his faculty), the increased acceptance rate to offset budget shortfalls (92%), rundown facilities, poor food quality, high crime rate, lack of on-campus activities, and the numerous disciplinary problems that were not properly addressed. The breaking point for me personally was when the University decided to delete the SJU Parent Facebook page because too many of us were communicating about all of the issues our children were experiencing, and SJU’s failure to address them. They suddenly announced the page was “no longer needed” and that it would be deactivated in 48 hours. Less than 24 hours later, the page was gone. A large number of parents were able to migrate to a different page, started by another parent, but the damage was already done. It was a clear indication that the University was not committed to making things better, they preferred to shutdown the dialogue and sweep it under the rug. That was when we knew for sure it was the right decision to leave. Maybe they will turn things around eventually, but I wasn’t about to let my daughter waste her precious college years taking that chance. She is thriving at her new school, straight A’s and extemely happy with her decision to leave. My only regret is that we made her stick it out an entire year rather than transferring out at the end of the first semester.