Retention Rates for First Time, Full Time Students in a ...

Retention Rates for First Time, Full Time Students in a Program: SUNY Data Analysis and Trends

SUNY System Administration Office of the Provost May 2014 ? DRAFT VERSION

Introduction

The retention of college students, particularly from one academic year to the next, is among the most widely studied areas of higher education. After four decades of research, there now stands a large corpus of literature that examines a variety of aspects of retention, including how societal, institutional, and individual factors influence whether or not a student stays in college. Despite this growing body of literature, the reasons behind whether a student persists are complex and the factors interrelated; yet it is known that retaining students is necessary to ensure that they successfully complete their educational program.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), retention rate is a measure of the rate at which students persist in their educational program at an institution, expressed as a percentage. For four-year institutions, this is the percentage of first-time bachelors (or equivalent) degreeseeking undergraduates from the previous fall who are again enrolled in the current fall. For associate granting institutions, this is the percentage of first-time degree/certificate-seeking students from the previous fall who either re-enrolled or successfully completed their program by the current fall.

Retention rates have long been used as an indicator of student progress and are increasingly being used to hold institutions accountable for providing appropriate support mechanisms for their students. Because it is influenced by both indvidual and institutional characteristics, retention rates are viewed as a measure of both student success and institutional success. While individual characteristics do matter, research suggests that institutions can influence the retention decisions of their students through faculty engagement with students, how institutions deliver services related to enrollment and financial aid, and the nature of the academic and social supports provided (Tinto, 1997, 1998; Upcract, Gardner, and Barefoot, 2005).

This is not an in-depth look at the scholarship surrounding retention rates. Rather, the purpose of this report is to provide the current status of student retention within the State University of New York. Furthermore, this report will focus on first time, full time cohorts specifically, the cohorts for which retention rates are most commonly cited.

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Table 1. Ten-Year Retention Rate Trend of Baccalaureate Students at SUNY

First Year Retention Rates for First Time, Full Time Students in a Baccalaureate Program Entering Cohorts Fall 2003 to Fall 2012

Fall 2003 Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006 Fall 2007 Fall 2008 Fall 2009 Fall 2010 Fall 2011 Fall 2012

SUNY Total Entering Cohort Retention Rate Doctoral Degree Granting Entering Cohort Retention Rate Comprehensive Colleges Entering Cohort Retention Rate Technology Colleges Entering Cohort Retention Rate

24,586 23,599 24,694 25,509 25,873 26,730 25,689 25,704 25,980 26,463 82.3% 82.8% 82.9% 83.2% 82.7% 84.1% 84.4% 84.6% 83.8% 84.4%

11,656 10,945 11,797 12,389 12,214 12,608 12,070 12,066 12,162 12,978 87.2% 87.8% 87.4% 87.7% 87.2% 88.4% 88.4% 88.8% 88.1% 88.0%

11,954 11,694 11,989 12,238 12,532 12,884 12,303 12,220 12,416 12,012 78.4% 78.7% 79.4% 79.4% 79.3% 80.8% 81.3% 81.5% 80.3% 81.2%

976

960

908

882 1,127 1,238 1,316 1,418 1,402 1,473

71.7% 75.2% 72.1% 72.8% 73.1% 75.0% 75.8% 74.6% 76.2% 79.2%

SUNY System Administration, Office of Institutional Research : : May 15, 2014

Source: SUNY Data Warehouse

Table 1 shows the 10-year retention rate trend of first time, full time students in a baccalaureate program at the system level and at the sector level.

Key Observations

For the ten year period, from the Fall 2003 to Fall 2012 cohort, retention rates at the system level for first time, full time baccalaureate students have generally shown a slight increase from year to year. The exceptions were the Fall 2007 and Fall 2011 cohorts, where rates decreased less than one percent but then increased in each of the following years. For the ten year period, the rate increased from 82.3% to 84.4%, an increase of approximately two percentage points.

Retention rates in the Doctoral Degree Granting sector have remained in the 87% to 88% range throughout the ten year period.

Like the overall SUNY rates, the Comprehensive sector retention rate trend has seen slight year to year increases, going from 78.4% for the Fall 2003 cohort to 81.2% for the Fall 2012 cohort, with a slight downward blip of 80.3% seen for the Fall 2011 cohort. This is ten year change of nearly three percentage points.

Although in comparing the retention rates for the Technology Colleges at the beginning and end of the ten year period, this sector has made the most improvement, it has also experienced the most fluctuation. This could be due to the relatively small size of their cohorts relative to the other sectors.

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Table 2. Ten-Year Retention Rate Trend of Associate Degree Students at SUNY

First Year Retention Rates for First Time, Full Time Students in an Associate Degree Program Entering Cohorts Fall 2003 to Fall 2012

SUNY Total Entering Cohort Retention Rate

Technology Colleges Entering Cohort Retention Rate

Community Colleges Entering Cohort Retention Rate

Fall 2003 Fall 2004 Fall 2005 Fall 2006 Fall 2007 Fall 2008 Fall 2009 Fall 2010 Fall 2011 Fall 2012

40,867 42,130 41,507 42,745 45,340 47,240 50,807 50,658 48,061 46,587 62.7% 62.2% 61.7% 61.7% 61.3% 63.5% 61.4% 60.0% 60.1% 61.4%

5,156 59.4%

5,131 57.8%

4,871 58.2%

4,905 58.3%

5,145 58.3%

5,289 60.0%

5,058 59.0%

4,708 61.1%

4,445 61.2%

4,476 62.0%

35,711 36,999 36,636 37,840 40,195 41,951 45,749 45,950 43,616 42,111 63.2% 62.8% 62.2% 62.1% 61.7% 63.9% 61.7% 59.9% 60.0% 61.4%

SUNY System Administration, Office of Institutional Research : : May 15, 2014

Source: SUNY Data Warehouse

Table 2 shows the 10-year retention rate trend for first time, full time students in an associate degree program at the system level and at the sector level.

Key Observations

For the ten year period, from the Fall 2003 to Fall 2012 cohort, retention rates at the system level for first time, full time students in Associate programs have generally shown a slight downward trend. Between Fall 2003 and Fall 2011, the retention rate decreased from 62.7% to 60.1%, or 2.6 percentage points. With the Fall 2012 cohort, however, the retention rate rose over one percentage point up to 61.4%.

Over this same time period, the retention rate for the Technology Colleges for Associate level students initially dropped one and a half percentage points (59.5% to 57.8% for the Fall 2003 and Fall 2004 cohorts, respectively) but then steadily increased to the most recent rate of 62.0% for the Fall 2012 cohort.

Due to approximately 90% of first time, full time students in Associate programs being enrolled at the Community Colleges, the trend for this sector mirrors that of the system level, discussed in the first key observation.

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Chart 1. Retention Rates ? SUNY vs. National Benchmarks

100% 80%

83.8%

First Year Retention Rates, SUNY vs. National Benchmarks Fall 2011 Entering Cohorts

79.2%

80.3%

60%

60.0%

58.2%

60.2%

40%

20%

0%

SUNY

National Public Institutions

National Private Institutions

First Time, Full Time Baccaulaureate Students 4 Year Institutions

SUNY System Admin Office of Institutional Research :: May 15, 2014 Sources: SUNY Data Warehouse and 2013 US Dept of Education NCES Digest of Educational Statistics

SUNY*

National Public Institutions

National Private Institutions

First Time, Full Time Associate Degree Students 2 Year Institutions 2 Year Institutions

Chart 1 illustrates how SUNY's retention rates compare to the national benchmarks, with the most recent national comparison data being for the Fall 2011 cohort. Note that the Associate Degree data presented here is for 2-year institutions only; hence, for SUNY, only the community colleges are represented.

Key Observations

For the Fall 2011 entering cohort of first time, full time students seeking baccaulaureate degrees, SUNY's retention rate of 83.8% surpasses those at each national public and private institutions, 79.2% and 80.3%, respectively.

For the Fall 2011 entering cohort of first time full time students seeking associate degrees at two year institutions (SUNY Community Colleges), SUNY's retention rate of 60.0% is higher than that at national public institutions (58.2%) and similar to that at national private institutions (60.2%).

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Chart 2. Retention Rates by Campus, Baccalaureate Students

First Year Retention Rates for First Time, Full Time Students in a Baccalaureate Program at SUNY by Campus, Fall 2012 Entering Cohorts

0%

Cornell Stat (1,101) Binghamton (2,569)

Geneseo (826) Stony Brook (2,674) Doctoral Degree Institutions (12,978) Buffalo Univ (3,614)

Oneonta (1,144) New Paltz (1,119) Envir Sci & Forestry (321) Alfred State (121) SUNY Total (26,463)

SUNYIT (198) Plattsburgh (967) Alfred-Ceramics (137) Cortland (1,210)

Purchase (693) Farmingdale (402)

Albany (2,562) Comprehensive Colleges (12,012)

Brockport (1,083) Maritime (329)

Technology Colleges (1,473) Oswego (1,270) Fredonia (1,003)

Old Westbury (394) Canton (127)

Buffalo State (1,329) Potsdam (883) Cobleskill (131) Delhi (99) Morrisville (66)

Empire State (91)

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

49.5%

94.6% 90.7% 90.7% 90.1% 88.0% 87.5% 87.4% 87.2% 85.7% 85.1% 84.4% 83.8% 83.8% 83.2% 82.9% 82.4% 82.3% 81.5% 81.2% 80.8% 79.3% 79.2% 78.0% 77.6% 75.6% 75.6% 75.3% 74.3% 74.0% 68.7% 66.7%

Note: The number in parenthesis represents the number of students in the entering cohort. SUNY System Administration Office of Institutional Research :: May 15, 2014

Source: SUNY Data Warehouse

Chart 2 illustrates individual campuses' most recent retention rates for first time, full time students in a baccalaureate program.

Key Observations

As was seen in Table 1, for the Fall 2012 entering cohort of first time full time students seeking a baccalaureate degree, SUNY's overall retention rate is 84.4%.

For this cohort, the retention rate varies widely between a maximum of 94.6% (Cornell Statutories) and a minimum of less than 50% (Empire State).

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