student enrolled but then did not attend

Beth Unruh-Arnold

We load our first year students in RE and they have there own constituent record. Once the semester starts I get a list of students that enrolled but then decided not to attend at all, they are not considered a student since they did not register for classes. Trying to see if any other colleges/schools have this happening and if so wondering how you deal with the record in RE. I was thinking of just deleting them since they are not considered a student and we would not reach out to them for anything.

Joe Moretti

@Beth UnruhArnold Having worked at two colleges, this does not sound like the ideal system. It seems a better alternative would be to enter students who have graduated and are considered an alumni at the end of each year or semester, whatever is appropriate for you school. Otherwise the way it is being done seems to clog the database up with “dead” records, but each organization is different of how this is handled.

Kisha Baker

@Beth UnruhArnold We do deal with this. For them we use an education status of withdrawn and a constituent code of ELIM (eliminate).

Elizabeth Johnson

@Beth UnruhArnold, we deal with this. I do delete the record of the student and their relations if they have no giving history and no other connection to our school. We build relationships with our students while they are here and thus it is important for us to have records prior to becoming alumni.

Carlene Johnson

@Joe Moretti
What you are saying makes sense for Higher Ed, however the K-12 sector is different in that we build strong relationships with parents while their students are enrolled in the school and it is incredibly helpful to have all the information on their children/students in the system. Additionally, there are often events where the parents and students register to participate in the event, so the kids end up getting into the system anyway.
There are also some email communications which need to go to our whole community including current students.
At my org (K-12 - grades 7-12), we enter students (and their corresponding parents) into RE at the time they enroll and use a combination of constituency codes and “status” on the education record to track the student's relationship to the school.
In those instances where a student enrolls and unenrolls without the student even attending, I will delete the student and parent records from the system provided there is no other relationship to the school.
If the student attends, or if there are other connections or giving history on parent record, I will keep those records but code accordingly.

Susan ShebarFioribello

@Beth UnruhArnold
I try not import until after the Add/Drop date. This way, if a student withdraws before completing a class they don't get imported at all. I have been encouraged to “get a jump on things” and begin importing them over the summer but I am very reluctant to do this.

Mark Warner

@Beth UnruhArnold We switch their constituency code to Withdrawn Student and have encountered zero issues with this coding method.

Dan Snyder

@Beth UnruhArnold I subscribe to “The Johnson Method”. @Elizabeth Johnson @Carlene Johnson

Beth Unruh-Arnold

@Susan ShebarFioribello
I am with you Susan but also have a time crunch to get them in early summer or I would wait as well and avoid all this extra work