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> Assessment > 2007 Retention Patterns

Introduction

Retention is a major key to the success of Mountain State University (MSU).  In addition to getting the students, the University must also keep the students.  Retention is also a measure by which the quality of a school is judged.  U.S. News stated that the higher proportion of freshmen who return to campus the following year and eventually graduate indicated how well the school did in offering the classes and services students needed to succeed.

In looking at retention it is important to understand that there are two important time periods for analyzing retention data.  These two periods are retention from fall to the following spring semester (fall to spring) and the retention from fall of one year to the fall semester of the next year (fall to fall). 

There are also several groups that have been identified as the key indicators in retention reporting.  MSU is required to reports retention rates to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) through their Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).  Although the requirement for retention rates has only been required for the last two years, their indicator group is defined as the cohort of first-time bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree-seeking undergraduates and they require separate retention rates for full-time and part-time students.

In analyzing the historical retention rates for MSU, there are five distinct groups that have been used in the past as key indicators.  These groups are:

1. Undergraduate first-time students (fall to spring)

2. All undergraduate students

3. First-time, full-time undergraduate students

4. First-time, full-time degree seeking undergraduate students; and

5. First-time, full-time degree seeking undergraduate students with less than 27 credit hours.

 

Analysis

The IPEDS retention rates of full-time, first-time bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree-seeking undergraduates have continued to decline over the last three years, ranging from 61% in 2003-2004 to 45% in the 2005-2006 academic year.  The rates of the part-time, first-time bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree-seeking undergraduates increased from 32% in 2003-2004 to 43% in the 2004-2005 academic year but fell to 34% in 2005-2006. 

The retention rate for undergraduate first-time students has decreased both in the fall to spring and in the fall to fall.  Of the 442 first-time undergraduate students enrolled in the fall of 2006, 246 returned in the spring of 2006 for a 56% retention rate.  This is down from the 61% retention rate for last year.  The rate for the students enrolled in the fall of 2005 who returned in the fall of 2006 also went down.  Of the 4,379 students enrolling in fall of 2005, 157 returned the following fall for a 41% retention rate. This retention rate is also down from the 46% last year.

The overall retention rate for all undergraduate students in the fall to spring has increased from 67% to 69% with only 2,563 out of 3,738 students returning.  The fall to fall timeframe remained constant at 50% with 1,786 out of 3,544 students returning.  Since this group includes all undergraduate students, it provides an insight as to how well MSU does at retaining students in general.

The first-time, full-time undergraduate student retention rates have declined over that last four years both in the fall to spring and the fall to fall timeframe.  The fall to spring decreased from 68% in the previous year to 62% for fall 2006 to spring 2006.  This meant that only 185 of the 299 students returned.   The fall to fall retention rate declined from 50% in previous year to 45% this year because only 118 of the 261 students returned.

The first-time, full-time degree seeking undergraduate retention rates decreased both in the fall to spring and the fall to fall timeframes.  The fall to spring saw a dramatic decrease from 68% to 46% with 181 of the 394 students returning while the fall to fall saw a decrease from 51% to 45% with 118 out of 260 students returning.

The first-time, full-time degree seeking undergraduate students with less than 27 credit hours decreased both in the fall to spring and the fall to fall. The fall to spring fell from 63% to 58% with 171 out of 294 students returning.  The fall to fall saw a decrease from 48% to 40% with 104 out of 260 students returning.  Students with less than 27 credit hours would be considered freshmen and it appears that MSU is not improving the retention of freshmen.

The following charts show a graphical representation of the historical retention rates in each of the key indicator groups and timeframes discussed.  The percentages that have increased over last year’s have been highlighted in green and those that fell have been highlighted in red. If there was no change, the percentage have not been highlighted.

In an effort to determine where we are losing students, detail information on retention by program has been provided for your review. This information shows which programs are losing freshmen (first-time undergraduates) between the fall semester and the following spring semester. It also provided information on all students (undergraduate and graduate) lost between fall to fall and fall to spring. Students who graduated are not included in this detail information.

 

Please review the information provided by the links below.