Students encouraged to enroll in Western Edge

By Sebastian Fryer
Western Herald

Since 2007, every Western Michigan University student has been given an opportunity to reap the benefits of the Western Edge program.

According to the Western Edge’s Web site, the program is “a strategic plan for promoting student success and keeping the quality of education offered by WMU affordable.”

“[WMU President] Dr. Dunn designed the Western Edge in 2007 for the incoming fall class of 2007 to improve retention and graduation requirements,” said Chris Voss, assistant director of admissions.

The Western Edge consists of five parts — a retention scholarship, graduation compacts, enhanced academic advising, fixed room and board rates, and academic opportunities.

The $500 retention scholarship requires undergraduate students to be attending WMU for the first time, enroll in the following fall semester, and complete 30 credits of academic course work within one academic year while earning a 3.0 or greater GPA.

According to Mark Delorey, director of financial aid, 1,114 students received the retention scholarship during the 2008-09 academic year, for a total of $554,000. A total of $635,000 was given to 1,278 students during the 2009-2010 academic year.

Students under the Western Edge may also sign a graduation compact. The graduation compact requires students to meet with advisors and declare a major by their sophomore year. In return, the university guarantees that major courses will be available to students.

The Western Edge’s “enhanced advising” is related to the graduation compact, and encourages students to visit advisors more often.

“The two that relate most to each other are the academic advising and graduation compact,” Voss said.

According to Voss, before the Western Edge was created, students didn’t have many incentives to visit advisors.

“We’ve always had advising, but students never had a compelling reason to use them,” Voss said.

Students sign an agreement to visit advisors every semester, they are then guaranteed to have the courses they are required to take made available to them.

“If there’s one piece [of the Western Edge] that’s undersold, it’s the graduation compact,” Voss said.

Another facet of the Western Edge program is a guarantee of fixed room and board rates. According to the Western Edge Web site, “the Residence Hall and Dining Advantage ensures that a student’s room and board rate will remain the same for four consecutive years, beginning with the first year the student submits a housing contract.”

Under the Residence Hall and Dining Advantage, students must live in traditional residence halls, and the first year a student submits a contract determines the rates they will pay for the rest of the agreement.

The Western Edge also consists of academic opportunities, such as co-op, internship, research, and study abroad opportunities.

Voss stated that every student should become knowledgeable of the Western Edge and take advantage of the plan.

“Students have nothing to lose,” Voss said. “Their side of the bargain is something they should probably be doing anyway.”

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Posted by heraldstaff on Feb 7 2010. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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