Administrators and faculty at Iowa State are working together to help increase minority student retention rates on campus.

“The retention rate is not something we are really proud of, but we are working on it,” said Rafael Rodriguez, director of Minority Student Affairs. “It needs improvement, and we are going at it.”

Rodriguez and Thomas Hill, vice president for Student Affairs, said the university has different initiatives and programs geared toward the recruitment of minority students.

“We have minority staff members who are hired to recruit minority students,” Hill said. “Part of recruiting is making aid available, [such as] scholarships and grants. [You have to] make it affordable.”

Hill said scholarships such as IMAGES, which is offered to minority students in the state of Iowa at the three regents institutions, are a great way to fund a college education.

“Each college will have some scholarship money available that they control,” he said. “Some are centrally out of the Admissions office, and others are through [individual] colleges and departments.”

During the recruitment process, officials target people who they believe can be successful at ISU.

Hill said ISU receives the names of potential recruits through a number of ways.

“We contact them, they contact us or we get information on them,” Hill said. “[The recruits] are from all over — different states, different countries, everywhere.”

Hill said officials target minority students in Iowa and in close cities such as Des Moines.

“I would like to make it real difficult for students to leave Iowa and not come to Iowa State,” he said. “I want to make it attractive for students to drive the 30 to 35 miles to come [here].”

Once recruited, students can participate in various educational programs such as the McNair Program, the Early Success Program (ESP) and Carver Academy throughout the summer or academic school year.

“Carver Academy is [designed] to provide an early experience with college,” Rodriguez said. “We [also concentrate] on the transition from high school to college-level expectations.”

Carver Academy, which is a seven-week program, is open to 60 minority students. Up to seven and a half credits can be earned.

ESP, which is open only to freshmen minority students, is a seminar-style class taught by an upperclassman during the school year.

The McNair Program is designed to prepare “first-generation, low-income students for graduate college entry in pursuit of a doctorate degree with a career as a college professor as the goal,” according to a press from the Graduate College.

In addition, the university provides MSA liaison officers in every college to help minority students find the information they need.

In the community, the Ames Chamber of Commerce formed the Ames/ISU Task Force called “Breaking Down the Barriers” to provide a “welcoming environment” for students of color, Rodriguez said. The group, which was formed two years ago, is composed of university and community members.

Even with all of the programs and incentives offered by the university, Hill said ISU’s minority student retention rate still needs improvement, and he is confident university officials can “make it better.”

“Through recruitment, programs once they are here and making the campus more friendly than it already is, we can make [ISU] more enticing to people, especially minority people,” he said.