College boosts student retention by providing smart phones to faculty

Inside Higher Education today has a story about a small college in Georgia - Georgia Gwinnett College - that has decided to provide all its full and part-time faculty with smartphones and pay for the service plans. The college then encourages faculty to respond to any calls or texts from students within 24 hours. This is part of an effort to increase the number of students who stay the course for 4 years. The story says that the plan is working: the retention rate for returning sophomores at Georgia Gwinnett is 75 percent, about double the average rate for similar colleges in Georgia.