2011 Mid-Year Student Retention Indicators Report
Student retention benchmarks for two-year and four-year colleges and universities
To assist campuses with accurately forecasting student retention, and to help with increasing it, this report identifies early indicators of students’ progress toward completing a degree and establishes benchmarks that campuses can use to evaluate their performance. The report is based on a Web-based survey of college and university officials in November 2010.
Among the highlights:
- First-year students at two-year and four-year institutions completed 77 to 93 percent of the credit hours they attempted (median rates), with the highest rates of completion reported among students at four-year private colleges.
- Between 9 and 19 percent of first-year students at the median failed to persist to the second term.
- Institutions with higher selectivity reported higher rates of persistence and retention. Between 7 and 14 percent of second-year students at the median failed to persist to the second term across institution types, and even more failed to return for their third year at four-year institutions.
- Fewer first-year students who were conditionally admitted persisted from the first to the second term compared to their non-conditionally-admitted counterparts.
- More first-year students were placed on probation during term one than during term two.
This report is part of the Higher Ed Benchmarks report series.
