If current trends persist, one out of five freshmen will not make it to sophomore status and three out of 10 will not make it to junior status, according to statistics tracked by the Office of Institutional Research.

Ricky Rohrback, 21, was part of the statistics of students who did not make it three years ago. Rohrback began at Sacramento State in fall 2003 and he, like any eager freshman, soon learned the freedom of independence and cracked into the social scene.

“The way that the dorms are set up makes it easy for you to hang out with people all the time,” Rohrback said. “I ran myself into situations that screwed myself over, like staying up late and not making it to class.”

Having a major that he didn’t particularly enjoy or feel motivated in didn’t help either, Rohrback said. He decided to be a mechanical engineering major based on his father’s suggestions, but realized he had no interest in the field as soon as class started.

After his first semester at Sac State, Rohrback went on academic probation and when his grades didn’t turn around after his second semester, he was disqualified from Sac State.

Rohrback’s story is not rare. In fact, it’s so common that administration has taken notice, and President Alexander Gonzalez cited it as one of the challenges facing Sac State this year during his fall address.

“The largest number of students that is leaving the university is comprised of freshmen and sophomores,” Gonzalez said during the address. “Clearly, this is an issue we must address and reverse.”

To combat the continual pattern in enrollment and retention challenges, the Enrollment Management Advisory Committee was formed to analyze data and to come up with ideas and solve the problem, Emiliano Diaz, director of Outreach Admissions and Records, said.

Diaz said that the pattern started a few years ago when budget cuts in the legislature caused a rise in registration fees in community colleges, Universities of California and California State Universities.

While some students leave the university due to problems that are beyond anyone’s control, such as family, work or financial difficulties, Diaz said the university recognizes the need for students to feel connected and informed.

To increase communication among students, several programs are being developed to help students gain knowledge about campus resources and to help them feel more connected, Diaz said.

Working with the Public Affairs Office, Diaz said the university has tapped into the technologically savvy.

Some of the programs include strengthening the campus tours creating student blogs and message boards for students to ask questions and create discussions.

“We’re looking around and responding more now to what our environment says about what we need to do to reach and influence our students and I think the Web is a big, big part of that,” Diaz said.

For Rohrback, who came back to Sac State and petitioned for a reinstatement for a third semester, the third time did not prove to be a charm.

He came back as an environmental science major, but ended up on academic probation again at the end of the semester.

Rohrback said that while he was required to go to academic counseling once, he didn’t receive adequate help.

“I went through the enrollment office and they told me that, ‘I’m back here and here’s how many classes you can take. Have a good time,'” Rohrback said about being reinstated.

Rohrback did not receive any follow-up or additional help.

Rohrback said he would have benefited, if at the time, he had been assigned a tutor.

“It’d be easy for them to say, here’s a number you can call to set you up with a tutor,” Rohrback said. “They’re out there, they’re just not really connected. By the time I found out, it was too late.” This semester, freshmen were required to attend a mandatory orientation and three sessions of advising with either a professional adviser, or peer adviser during their first year.

“In a big school like this, you can slip through the cracks unless you put out the effort to utilize the resources,” Lori Varlotta, vice president for Students Affairs, said.

Mary Chou can be reached at [email protected]