Institutional Research - Retention Rates

One-Year Retention Rates

The below graph and data table tracks Retention Rates for first-time, full-time undergraduate students entering during the indicated term who returned the subsequent fall semester.

Example: 69% of first-time, full-time freshmen who started in the Fall of 2019 returned in the Fall 2020 term.

Summary of Trends

• These data track fall-to-fall retention rates of first-time, full-time undergraduate students over an eight-year span, ranging from Fall 2013 to Fall 2021.
• Of the three categories (Associate, Baccalaureate, and Overall), the Associate and Overall are the most similar; the Associate rates are slightly lower than the Overall rates, and both had been trending down for three terms between Fall 2016 through Fall 2018, before jumping up in the Fall 2019 term.
• Compared to six years ago, the 2018 rates dropped by 7% (from 64% to 57%) for the Associate rates and 5% (from 64% to 59%) for the Overall rates.
• The Baccalaureate rates peaked in the fall 2017 term at 79%, which was the third year of increases, and has decreased by 6% for the fall 2018 term, but is still up 5% compared to the rate six years ago.
• All three categories have shown increases between the Fall 2018 and Fall 2019 years.  Fall 2020 rates dropped, and many new initiatives are coming forward based on what the institution learned during the COVID-19 Pandemic.