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Degree to Enrollment Ratios (DER) and

Persistence/Retention Rates

Meeting Reporting Requirements for Non-Traditional Student Populations

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CHEA Standard 12, Paragraph 12(B)(1), 2010 CHEA Recognition Policy and Procedures• 1. Describe the accreditation standards that require each accredited institution or program to provide information to the

public about its performance, including student achievement. This description must address the performance of the entire institution or program in contrast to select information about individual students. While such information may be part of this description, it alone is not sufficient evidence that the standard has been met. Accrediting organizations seeking to meet the CHEA standard are to implement this requirement promptly rather than phasing it in during a multi-year cycle of review of all institutions or programs.

• 2. Provide evidence, such as information presented on a website or in printed documents, that demonstrates that accredited programs or institutions provide information to the public on student achievement. For example, evidence of student achievement, as prepared by the institution or program, may include aggregate data regarding:

• Attrition and retention

• Graduation

• Licensure pass rates

• Job placement rates (as appropriate)

• Employment advancement (as appropriate)

• Acceptance into graduate programs

• Successful transfer of credit

• Other

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Higher Learning Commission (HLC) & ACBSP Requirements

4.C - Core Component 4.C ResourcesThe institution demonstrates a commitment to educational improvement through ongoing attention to

retention, persistence, and completion rates in its degree and certificate programs.

1. The institution has defined goals for student retention, persistence, and completion that are ambitious but

attainable and appropriate to its mission, student populations, and educational offerings.

2. The institution collects and analyzes information on student retention, persistence, and completion of its

programs.

3. The institution uses information on student retention, persistence, and completion of programs to make

improvements as warranted by the data.

4. The institution’s processes and methodologies for collecting and analyzing information on student retention,

persistence, and completion of programs reflect good practice. (Institutions are not required to use IPEDS

definitions in their determination of persistence or completion rates. Institutions are encouraged to choose

measures that are suitable to their student populations, but institutions are accountable for the validity of

their measures.)

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HCL Criteria 4.C. - ACBSP Standard 6

Analysis of Results

Performance

Measure

What is your

measurement

instrument or process?

Current Results Analysis of Results Action Taken or

Improvement made

Measurable goal (Indicate length of

cycle)

What are your

current results?

What did you learn

from the results?

What did you

improve or what is

your next step?

Organizational Effectiveness Results Organizational effectiveness

results examine attainment of organizational goals. Each business unit must have

a systematic reporting mechanism for each business program that charts

enrollment patterns, student retention, student academic success, and other

characteristics reflecting students' performance.

Key indicators may include: graduation rates, enrollment, improvement in safety,

hiring equity, increased use of web-based technologies, use of facilities by

community organizations, contributions to the community, or partnerships,

retention rates by program, and what you report to governing boards and

administrative units.

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Traditional IPEDS Measures

• Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)• Surveys conducted annually by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a

part of the Institute for Education Sciences within the United States Department of Education. (http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/)

• Measures:• Student persistence and success

• Freshman (First–Year) Retention Rates — The first-year retention rate measures the percentage of first-year students who had persisted in or completed their educational program a year later.

• Graduation Rates of First-time Freshman cohorts typically 4 and 6 year rates

• Degrees and certificates conferred by program (completions or graduation rate)• Categorized according to the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) coding system for

postsecondary instructional programs. • Measures First Time Freshman Cohorts

• Retention rate is the percentage of a school's first-time, first-year undergraduate students who continue at that school the next year. For example, a student who studies full-time in the fall semester and keeps on studying in the program in the next fall semester is counted in this rate.

Great for Traditional Universities

Not Great for Non-Traditional Universities

• Graduation rate is the percentage of a school's first-time, first-year undergraduate students who complete their program within 150% of the published time for the program. For example, for a four-year degree program, entering students who complete within six years are counted as graduates.

Great for Traditional Universities

Not Great for Non-Traditional Universities

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Problems with Traditional Measures

• IPEDS is designed for universities that support traditional students • Directly out of secondary school• Full time students

• Most students don’t graduate in 4 or even 6 years.

• Most students attend more than one institution and/or “Stop-Out” for a variety or reasons.

• These students fall out of the IPEDS cohorts.

• This is why HLC states: • Institutions are encouraged to choose measures that are suitable to their

student populations, but institutions are accountable for the validity of their measures.)

Time to Degree: A National View of the Time Enrolled and Elapsed for Associate and Bachelor’s Degree Earners http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/

Time to Degree: A National View of the Time Enrolled and Elapsed for Associate and Bachelor’s Degree Earners http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/

Alternate Measures

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Degree-to Enrollment Ratio (DER) Behind the Numbers: American Council on Education Center for Policy Analysis2010 Alternative Measures to Graduation Rates • There has been an increasing amount of attention given to alternatives to graduation rates as measures of institutional

success. One of the more popular alternatives is the ratio of degrees and certificates produced per 100 students enrolled.

• While not a cohort measure of graduation rates, the degree-to enrollment ratio (DER) can answer an important question: As postsecondary education enrollments have increased, have these enrollments translated into commensurate growth in degrees conferred? Unlike graduation rates, the DER provides valuable information on both enrollment trends as well as completion trends. This measure is gaining popularity as it has been used in the American Council on Education’s Minorities in Higher Education Status Report (25) as well as the Delta Cost Project’s Trends in College Spending (26).

• Expand the Focus Beyond Undergraduate Education

• One of the reasons for the federal government’s increased calls for more institutional accountability is the increasing amount of federal dollars going to postsecondary education. Interestingly, the accountability conversation has focused almost exclusively on undergraduate education. Although a significant amount of federal dollars are spent on graduate education, there is currently no federal database that allows for the calculation of a cohort-based graduation rate for graduate education.

• (25) Ryu, M. (2008). Minorities in higher education 2008: Twenty-third status report. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

• (26) Desrochers, D., Lenihan, C., & Wellman, J. (2010). Trends in college spending 1998–2008: Where does the money come from? Where does it go? What does it buy? Washington, DC: Delta Cost Project.

Retention Rates vs Persistence

• Retention rate is the percentage of a school's first-time, first-year undergraduate students.

• Persistence is a measure of how long any student persists in continuous years. A student who attends from their first year to the next year, has a persistence of 1. If that student persists to the next year, the student has a persistence of two.

Retention/Persistence Leads to Graduation

Student retained one yearPersistence = 1

Student retained second yearPersistence = 2, Etc.

Transfer student first yearPersistence = 0Not included in 4 year retention

Transfer student retained one yearPersistence = 1, Etc.

New Student

Persistence takes into account all students. Not just the first time freshman cohort.

Survival Analysis of Students: PersistenceAcademic

YearCohort

yearPersistence

(based on 10-11cohort year)

Persistence(based on 11-12

cohort year)

Unique 1(cohort

year only)

10-11 10-11 0

1

11-12 11-12 0

2 1

12-13 12-13 0

3 2

13-14 13-14 0

4 3

14-15 14-15 0

5 4

Number identifies student in database for number of years persisted at University

(Sustains into second year with University)

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University Comparisons Students for AY10-15

BetterWorse

Orphan Programs: EngMgt, Logistics, HCMgt

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Persistence/Retention

Persistence/Retention Rate:What percent of students are here in year X+1 compared to year X?(i.e. Year X+1 # persistence 2/Year X # persistence 1)

Persistence Years:Most students are transfers with around 60 credit hours. To reach 120 hours to graduate varies between 3 to 4 years.

DER Trends

Orphan Programs: EngMgt, Logistics, HCMgt, MIS

Indication of Validity

• Degree to Enrollment Ratio is the percentage of students who graduate in an academic year over the total number of students in that program during the academic year.

• This differs from a cohort based model that follows individual students graduation over time typically used with small programs or traditional students who graduate in 6 years.

• HLC encourages models other than IPEDS as long as they are valid.

At What Size Program Should Cohorts be Used?

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

AY 10-11 AY 11-12 AY 12-13 AY 13-14

Axi

s Ti

tle

Unique Only DER Graduation % 62 CommArts

59 Biology

54 SocialWork

53 Elem_Cert

44 FitWell

40 EngMgt

37 GraphDsgn

34 Earl_Teach_Yth

33 Economics

33 Secondary

32 Earl_Lead

32 Sociology

30 IntBusiness

24 PoliSc

23 English

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

AY 10-11 AY 11-12 AY 12-13 AY 13-14

Axi

s Ti

tle

Unique Only DER Graduation % 23 Nursing

22 InteriorDsgn

18 Earl_Cert

18 Middle

17 History

16 AMGT

14 Chemistry

12 Math

10 LiberalStd

9 AthTrain

9 CertTerr_Home_Sec

6 ALOG

5 AMAC

5 ConstMgt

5 LegalStd

5 MUSIC

5 Spanish

Small programs could be best served by using a cohort structure.

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

AY 10-11 AY 11-12 AY 12-13 AY 13-14

Axi

s Ti

tle

Unique Only DER Graduation % 2064 Management

1338 SocialPsy

1327 NA

1246 CrimJust

1174 HumanRes

1046 CSIS

503 HCMgt

393 Logistics

300 Accounting

241 Marketing

199 Finance

141 Psychology

124 InterdiscStd

99 Geography

87 PubAdmin

Scatter Plot

WorseBetter

Scatter Plot

WorseBetter

Mea

nin

g?B

ette

r O

ut

Fast

o

r

Sta

y Lo

ng?

Graduation and Persistence MatrixDegree to Enrollment Ratio (DER)

(Compared to Other Programs)

High Low

Pe

rsis

ten

ce M

eas

ure

(Co

mp

are

d t

o O

the

r P

rogr

ams)

Hig

h

• What are the trends?• What is the profile of the students?• Are there differences across student

profiles?• Can we graduate students sooner?

• What are the trends?• Why aren’t students completing

programs?• What is the profile of the students?• Are there differences across student

profiles?

Low

• What are the trends?• Is all good?• Are there differences across student

profiles?• Are all subgroups succeeding in the

same way?

• What are the trends?• Why do students drop before finishing?• Is there something wrong with students?• Is there something wrong with the

program?

Graduation and Persistence MatrixDegree to Enrollment Ratio (DER)

(Compared to Other Programs)

High Low

Pe

rsis

ten

ce M

eas

ure

(Co

mp

are

d t

o O

the

r P

rogr

ams)

Hig

h

• What are the trends?• What is the profile of the students?• Are there differences across student

profiles?• Can we graduate students sooner?

Finance – HR – AccMarketing – Mgt - IB

• What are the trends?• Why aren’t students completing

programs?• What is the profile of the students?• Are there differences across student

profiles?

Economics

Low

• What are the trends?• Is all good?• Are there differences across student

profiles?• Are all subgroups succeeding in the

same way?

• What are the trends?• Why do students drop before finishing?• Is there something wrong with students?• Is there something wrong with the

program?Logistics – EngMgt – HCMgt - MIS

What are the goals?

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Using the Graduation and Persistence Matrix • Finance, Human Resources, Accounting, Marketing, and Management have high Degree

to Enrollment Ratios compared to other programs and High Persistence Measures compared to other programs (stays longer with Park). These programs should consider:• What are the trends? Are we improving or slipping?• What is the profile of the students? • Are there differences across student profiles?• Can we graduate students sooner? What can be done to help students graduate sooner.• What are your goals for DER and Persistence?

• Logistics, Engineering Management, and Healthcare Management have low Degree to Enrollment Ratios compared to other programs and low Persistence Measures compared to other programs (stays shorter with Park). These programs should consider:• What are the trends? Are we improving or slipping?• Why do students drop before finishing? Does this need to be researched?• Is there an issue with students? Are they not prepared?• Is there something wrong with the program? Is there something wrong with the design?• What are your goals for DER and Persistence?

Additional Findings From the DER and Persistence Measures

For AY 11 – AY 15, 36.44% of Park Students Are With Us For One Year Only

1.3% of Year 0 students graduate in year 0.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Total 36.44% 18.98% 14.61% 11.03% 7.89% 4.96% 3.02% 1.59% 0.84% 0.38% 0.20% 0.04% 0.01% 0.00%

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

Total

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Grad 249 1064 2635 2743 2197 1447 879 509 257 119 57 10 3 1

Non Grad 18453 8677 4866 2918 1854 1098 672 308 172 77 44 11 3 1

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

18000

20000

Persistence Analysis

Student Persistence Flow Over Time

Large drop from Year 0 to Year 1.1.3% Year 0 students graduate in year 0. 98.7% Yr 0 students are one-and-done.

Degree Completion Institution

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Grad 3.26% 8.08% 8.41% 6.73% 4.44% 2.69% 1.56% 0.79% 0.36% 0.17% 0.03% 0.01% 0.00%

Non Grad 26.60% 14.92% 8.94% 5.68% 3.37% 2.06% 0.94% 0.53% 0.24% 0.13% 0.03% 0.01% 0.00%

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

Persistence Analysis Percentage Each Term To Total Students Yr 1 Forward

Student Persistence Flow Time 1 Forward

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Grad 0.49% 8.74% 21.65% 22.54% 18.05% 11.89% 7.22% 4.18% 2.11% 0.98% 0.47% 0.08% 0.02% 0.01%

Non Grad 47.13% 22.16% 12.43% 7.45% 4.74% 2.80% 1.72% 0.79% 0.44% 0.20% 0.11% 0.03% 0.01% 0.00%

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

45.00%

50.00%

Persistence Analysis Percentage Each Term to Non-Grad Total and Graduate Total

Student Persistence Flow Over Time

83% of Degree Completion

44% of Degree Completion

Percent of students who

graduate

Total Year 0 Students By HOR

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Grad

Non Grad

Top Programs for Year 0

Student Persistence

AY 11-12 AY 12-13 AY 13-14 AY 14-15

Average 65.0% 65.2% 57.5% 59.2%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

Average Persistence Student Population Year to Year

Student Non-Grad Persistence

AY 11-12 AY 12-13 AY 13-14 AY 14-15

Average 57.5% 65.6% 64.7% 74.0%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

Average Non-Graduate Persistence Rate