The more we dig into our retention data, the more interesting it gets. Earlier this term, I shared with you some of our findings regarding term-to-term retention rates. These data seem to suggest that we are slowly improving our within-year retention rates.
As always, the overall numbers only tell us so much. To make the most of the data we collect, we need to dig deeper and look at within-year retention rates for subpopulations of students that have historically left at a higher rate than their peers. Interestingly, this data might also tell us something about when these students are most vulnerable to departing and, as a result, when we might increase our focus on supporting their success.
The table below presents 2014-15 within-year retention rates of the five subpopulations of students that significantly deviated from the overall term-to-term retention rates. The percentages that are more than one point below the overall number are in red.
| Student Demographic Group | Fall to Winter | Winter to Spring | Fall to Spring |
| Overall | 96.6% | 97.6% | 94.3% |
| Males | 94.4% | 95.9% | 90.5% |
| Multicultural Students | 98.7% | 93.9% | 92.7% |
| Gov’t Subsidized Loan Qualifiers | 94.8% | 97.6% | 92.5% |
| Non IL/IA Residents | 96.0% | 90.0% | 90.0% |
| First-Generation Students | 95.3% | 96.7% | 92.3% |
The first thing I’d like to highlight is a pair of subpopulations that aren’t on this list. Analyses of older data would no doubt highlight the lagging retention rates of students who came to Augustana with lower ACT scores or who applied test-optional (i.e., without submitting a standardized test score). However, in the 2014-15 cohort these subpopulations retained from fall to winter (96.9% and 97.9%, respectively) and from winter to spring (96.8% and 97.9%, respectively) at rates similar to the overall population. The winter-to-spring numbers are particularly encouraging because that is when first-year students can be suspended for academic performance. Although it would be premature to declare that this improvement results directly from our increased student support efforts, these numbers suggest that we may indeed be on the right track.
In looking at the table above, the highlighted demographic groups are probably not a surprise to those who are familiar with retention research. However, this table gives us a glimpse into when certain groups are more vulnerable to departure. For example, male students’ retention rates are consistently lower than the campus average. By contrast, multicultural students were retained at a higher rate from fall to winter. But from winter to spring, our early success evaporated completely. Winter term might also play a role for non IL/IA residents who retain at rates similar to their peers from fall to winter but from winter to spring depart at a higher rate than the rest of the cohort.
Since this is only one year of data, I wouldn’t suggest making any emphatic claims based on it. But I do think that these findings should challenge us to think more deeply about the kind of support different types of student might need and when they might benefit most from it.
Make it a good day,
Mark