How many college students leave before census day of term two?

To assist higher education with continuing to improve college completion rates, Noel-Levitz has developed benchmarks to break down the completion problem into smaller, more manageable pieces.

Above, benchmark data from the Noel-Levitz 2013 Student Retention Indicators Benchmark Report shows median first-to-second-term attrition for higher education for first-year and second-year undergraduates enrolled in the fall, based on a recent poll of campus officials nationwide.

As shown above, first-year student attrition in the fall (the first table) tends to be higher than second-year student attrition in the fall (the second table), though the attrition both years is at a level that demands attention.

The report offers further breakdowns beyond the median at the 25th percentile vs. the 75th percentile. In addition, breakdowns by institutional selectivity are included for four-year private and public institutions.

Evaluating college student retention at mid-year
Noel-Levitz consultant Lew Sanborne offered the following remarks about mid-year benchmarking in an earlier blog post:

“With these benchmarks, your campus can see how you are performing compared to your peers. I encourage you to check your institutional persistence against these benchmarks. Spread the word and celebrate if you are ahead of these norms; evaluate your current approach if you are behind and identify opportunities for improvement.

“Also, consider using the mid-year benchmarks to help identify opportunities for improvement at your institution. Start by looking at your internal, term-to-term, year-to-year, and cohort-to-cohort comparison to evaluate the programs you currently have in place. Where you see a gap between your institutional performance and the benchmarks, look to strengthen programmatic interventions.”

Noel-Levitz partners with campuses for student retention strategy consulting. If you have any questions about strengthening your institution’s initiatives for student retention or college completion, or about the findings above, please contact us.