by Lydia Laythe
When freshman Gina Garaventa moved into Shipstad Hall this semester, she didn't imagine that four months later she'd already be planning to leave the University of Portland. Four of her six siblings attended UP and loved it, including one still on campus, and she expected it to be no different.
“I wasn’t sure what I totally wanted to do after high school, so I was just like ‘Oh University of Portland, it’ll be fine. Everyone loves it,’” Garaventa said. “But I dance, and that’s one of my favorite things. I really want to do something with that in the future. And they don’t offer enough dance classes. You can’t major or minor in that here. That’s a main reason to transfer.”
While the vast majority of first-year UP students stay here through graduation, Garaventa is not alone. On average, one in 10 first-year students have transferred out of UP in recent years, according to the U.S. Department of Education. About 89 percent of first-year students who started here as freshmen in 2011 stayed here, roughly the same rate as Loyola Marymount University and Lewis and Clark College.
According to Brenda Greiner, director of the Shepard Freshman Resource Center, the top three reasons first-year students leave are fit, financial reasons and academics.
“Financial being that something has changed in the family,” Greiner said. “Academic is something like: They decided to change their major or go someplace else or (they’re doing) poor academically. And the fit piece is it’s either too big or too small, too Catholic or not Catholic enough, too much in the city, not enough in the city. (It depends) on where someone’s coming from.”
Although UP was a good fit academically and socially for Garaventa, she decided she wanted to attend a university with an established dance program. She began dancing four years ago and her main styles are contemporary and ballet. While in high school, Garaventa performed in the school musicals.
Garaventa enrolled at UP undeclared and tried dancing at Howard Hall, but said the lack of appropriate dance space was frustrating and made her miss dancing even more. Garaventa plans to pursue a dance major at University of Oregon or Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles after she leaves UP at the end of the academic year.
“I’d like to major (in dance) and either become a teacher or a choreographer or at least dance for somebody somewhere,” Garaventa said.
Freshman Logan Griensewic said it wasn’t the academics, but the social environment that pushed him to decide to transfer.
“I just wasn’t really meshing well with the population here,” Griensewic said. “It was kind of affecting how happy I was, which in turn was affecting my school(work). I just decided to go somewhere where I’d be a little more comfortable.”
Griensewic is planning to attend University of Nevada in Reno, where he knows more students, after he leaves UP.
Greiner helps first-year students have a smooth transition to UP academically and socially and provides any support needed. Occasionally this involves talking to students considering leaving UP. If they’re still deciding whether to stay or not, Greiner said she’ll give them the resources they need to make an informed decision. But if the student is set on leaving, Greiner helps them transfer smoothly to a new institution.
“As much as I would love people to stay, I also know that people are going to decide that it is better to (leave),” Greiner said. “ If a person is open to finding out if this place is going to be the place they want to be, I’ll help them with that. If their situation is such that University of Portland isn’t going to be the best fit, for whatever reason, then I think my role is to help make that transition as smooth as possible for the student.”
Transferring out of the University of Portland requires many steps, including canceling housing contracts, canceling class registration, acquiring official transcripts and finding another institution to attend.
Greiner helps students navigate the complicated path of transferring.
“I provide them with the roadmap as far as ‘here are the things you’ll need to know about the University of Portland if you’re going to have a smooth transition from here to whatever other place you’re going to,’” Greiner said.
Garaventa said, while she’s leaving for academic reasons, she enjoyed UP otherwise.
“Everybody’s really nice,” Garaventa said. “I made a lot of friends so far. I love my roommate. I have really good teachers. It’s just not my school.”
