Use our early-alert motivational assessments to
increase student success and college completion rates
How can you optimize your student retention efforts?
The early-alert RNL Retention Management System Plus (RMS Plus) is a comprehensive suite of student success surveys and analytics that help you identify which individual undergraduates are most at risk, gauge students’ receptivity to assistance in key areas, and immediately connect at-risk students to relevant campus resources.
The resulting reports from these motivational assessments give you actionable summary data for the entire class, for specific subpopulations, and for each individual student to increase the efficiency, effectiveness, and timeliness of your student interventions.
Assessments and Analytics
- College Student Inventory™ for entering students
- Mid-Year Student Assessment™ for students after the first term
- Second-Year Student Assessment™ for returning sophomores
- Student Retention Predictor™ for advanced retention analytics
2021 National Freshman Motivation to Complete College Report
Read 6 key findings about the motivations, attitudes, and challenges of first-year students: the support they need, their priorities for college, and whether they think that college is worth the investment of time and money. You’ll find insights based on nationwide data from more than 85,000 first-year students.
Access and analyze data through the online Retention Data Center
The RMS Plus comes with a secure, password-protected website where you manage and act on your student data: The Retention Data Center.
This powerful-yet-intuitive portal provides increased flexibility for using reports and data from the RMS Plus, including multiple student grouping and filtering capabilities. It has varying levels of secure access, so that everyone from administrators to advisors can use it without compromising privacy. You can also add campus-specific supplemental questions to your assessment, and you can add your school logo to the assessment.
RMS + Essential Student Success (powered by Othot)
This combined solution marries the power of motivational/non-cognitive indicators with the best in class analytics provided by Othot Essential Success to give campus leaders both broad and deep insights into risk patterns, and intervention opportunities, for targeted groups of students, leading to a direct impact on improving retention and graduation rates.
Utilize the RMS Plus to:
- Identify which students are at risk and receptive to assistance.
- Intervene with students earlier, when the chance for success is greater.
- Create a systematic structure for assessment and intervention at the most critical points during a student’s college career.
- Make retention strategies more effective and efficient by basing them on reliable student data.
Know where you stand nationally
For more than 30 years, we have continuously developed and expanded the RMS Plus, based on more than 2.6 million student records from nearly 1,400 colleges and universities. Beginning with the College Student Inventory in 1988, Ruffalo Noel Levitz is the original pioneer of non-cognitive, motivational assessments for prioritizing student success programming in higher education.

“The College Student Inventory results facilitate relevant conversations during classroom and advising sessions and help tailor information and referrals to the needs of individual students and groups of students.”

“I like the College Student Inventory (CSI) because it’s a good starting point with students, helping us to identify what we may not otherwise realize they need, so that we can go in that direction with the conversation. The CSI is helpful for understanding students and the services they may need”
How You Can Benefit from RMS Plus
Easily identify your at-risk students
Intervene with your most at-risk students earlier, when the chance for success is greater. With the RMS Plus, you can identify student risk factors and receptivity to assistance at key transitional points. This helps you prioritize interventions and secure retention results through focused outreach to your students.
Access assessment data in real time, allowing ample opportunity for early interventions
As soon as students complete the surveys, the RMS Plus delivers a wealth of information about your students at the most critical junctures in their careers: before their first term, as they transition to the second term, and before and during their second year. This allows you to monitor students’ needs, as well as which key services they have used and still need to use, while jumpstarting interventions to keep students focused on educational completion.
Marshal your limited resources for student success more effectively
Identifying which students need the greatest assistance and are most receptive to assistance helps you focus your efforts and allocate campus resources more effectively.
Systematically personalize each intervention so it’s more meaningful and effective
Make interventions more targeted and individualized, while also showing students how they can take ownership for their success and make use of key campus services.
Increase accountability by using data to guide action and communication
With the RMS Plus, you have the data you need to meet accountability demands for your accrediting body and grant proposal. You’ll be able to justify decisions, benchmark your success, and assess your student success initiatives.
Find help when you need it
At every stage of using the RMS Plus, you can contact an experienced Ruffalo Noel Levitz consultant for guidance and assistance. You’re never left without the support you need to serve your students.
Questions?
Send us an email to schedule time to speak to our student retention strategists about using the RMS Plus or to discuss retention strategies that can work for your campus.
Additional Solutions for Student Success
RNL Student Success™
Discover the most comprehensive way to nurture and develop successful students from pre-enrollment through graduation.
RNL Student Retention Predictor™
Identify student retention risk factors through advanced analytics.
RNL Satisfaction-Priorities Assessments™
Strengthen the quality of student life and learning on your campus.