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> Assessment > 2008 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 increased from 45% (fall 2005 to fall 2006) to 52% (fall 2006 to fall 2007). The rates of the part-time, first-time bachelor’s (or equivalent) degree-seeking undergraduates decreased from 34% (fall 2005 to fall 2006) to 29% (fall 2006 to fall 2007). The retention rate for undergraduate first-time students increased both in the fall to spring and in the fall to fall. Of the 554 first-time undergraduate students enrolled in the fall of 2007, 317 returned in the spring of 2007 for a 57% retention rate. This is up from the 56% retention rate for last year. The rate for the students enrolled in the fall of 2006 who returned in the fall of 2007 also went up. Of the 442 students enrolling in fall of 2006, 184 returned the following fall for a 42% retention rate. This retention rate was up from the 41% last year. The overall retention rate for all undergraduate students in the fall to spring has increased from 69% to 70% with 3,027 out of 4,338 students returning. However, the fall to fall timeframe declined from 50% to 45% with 1,841 out of 4,072 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 from 62% to 61% in the fall to spring timeframe. However, the fall to fall retention rate increased from 45% to 46%. This meant that only 248 of the 404 students returned from fall 2007 to spring 2007. There were 137 of the 299 students returning from fall 2006 to fall 2007. The first-time, full-time degree seeking undergraduate retention rates increased in the fall to spring timeframe and remained steady for the fall 2006 to fall 2007 timeframe. The fall to spring saw a increase dramatic increase from 46% to 61% with 245 of the 399 students returning while the fall to fall remained steady at 46% with 133 out of 294 students returning. The first-time, full-time degree seeking undergraduate students with less than 27 credit hours increased dramatically in the fall to spring and remained steady in the fall to fall. The fall to spring increased from 58% to 80 with 234 out of 294 students returning. The fall to fall remained steady with 118 out of 294 students returning. Students with less than 27 credit hours would be considered freshmen and it appears that MSU is 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.
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