umass boston retention, persistence, and graduation rates umass boston advising collaborative march...

UMass Boston Retention,

Persistence, and Graduation Rates UMass Boston Advising Collaborative

March 28, 2013

Office of Institutional Research and Policy StudiesKevin B. Murphy

There have been significant changes in enrollment since fall 2002.

Office of Institutional Research and Policy Studies

Measures Fall 2002 Fall 2012Percent Change

Total Enrollment 12,719 15,874 25%

Percent Graduate Students 21% 24% 13%

Mean Age of Undergraduates 27 25 -7%

Median Age of Undergraduates 23 22 -4%

New Students 1,958 3,095 58%

New Freshmen 576 1,267 120%

New Transfers 1,382 1,828 32%

Percentage of Freshmen 29% 41% 39%

International Freshmen 23 223 870%

International Transfers 64 64 0%

Percent of Freshmen Identifying as White NH 45% 37% -18%

Notes on Retention and Graduation Rates

• A school’s retention rate is the percentage of fall entering, first-time, full-time freshmen that returns to that same school for the second fall semester.

• A school’s six-year graduation rate is the percentage of the first-time full-time freshman cohort who receive bachelor’s degrees from that school within six years of that first enrollment.

• Persistence is continuing enrollment after returning for the second year.• Everyone remains in the cohort except for those who enter the

military, go on a religious mission, or die. • Not included

– Transfers– Part-time freshmen– Spring entering full-time freshmen


Retention Rates, Fall 2002 to Fall 2011 Cohorts


Persistence to the third year has not seen as much improvement.


Retention Rates by Gender, 2002 to 2011 Cohorts


Retention Rates by Race/Ethnicity, 2007 to 2011 Cohorts


There are significant differences in retention between immigrant and international students and U.S. born students.


Immigrants and International students have recently become a larger proportion of the freshman cohort.


We are about to report the six-year graduation rate for the fall 2006 cohort. Several things stood out and we have seen them in previous cohorts.


• Men trail women significantly, and the effect crosses all racial/ethnic groups.

• Neither Verbal nor Math SAT scores are significantly related to graduating at UMass Boston

• High school GPA is positively and significantly related to graduating

• Participation in the Student Support Services program is positively and significantly related to graduating

• In multivariate analyses, being Hispanic is negatively related to graduating

• Among U.S. residents, immigrants were significantly more likely to graduate than native citizens

• Students entering the College of Management or the College of Nursing and Health Sciences were more likely to graduate than students entering the other colleges

There were some differences by group, but only gender, immigrant status, and (in some models) being Hispanic were significant.


GroupNumber Entered

Number Graduated

Graduation Rate

Women 484 209 43.2%

Men 362 112 30.9%

Asian P/I 157 63 40.1%

Black NH 117 42 35.9%

Hispanic 97 29 29.9%

International 34 16 47.1%

Unknown/Refused 51 22 43.1%

White NH 388 147 37.9%

Immigrants 129 64 49.6%

U.S. Born 681 240 35.2%

Total 846 319 37.7%

The differences by gender were large and were seen in all racial/ethnic groups.


Group Women Men Difference Significance

Asian P/I 45.1% 34.7% 10.5% No

Black NH* 41.2% 21.9% 19.3% P<.05

Hispanic 33.3% 22.6% 10.8% No

International 63.6% 39.1% 24.5% No

Unknown/Refused 50.0% 36.0% 14.0% No

White NH 43.7% 30.9% 12.8% P<.01

Total 42.8% 30.9% 11.8% P<.001

Conclusion


The issues of retention, persistence, and graduation rates at UMass Boston are difficult and complicated by the fact that UMass Boston has no student housing.

In discussing environmental factors that contribute to remaining in college, Alexander Astin found that:

“Probably the most important and pervasive was the student's residence. Living in a campus residence was positively related to retention, and this positive effect occurred in all types of institutions and among all types of students regardless of sex, race, ability, or family background” (Journal of College Student Development, 40-5, p. 523).

umass boston retention, persistence, and graduation rates umass boston advising collaborative march...

Documents