Retention of Fall 2009 First-Time Freshmen Executive Summary

Retention of Fall 2009 First-Time Freshmen Executive Summary Data show that students who experience academic success their first semester of college have higher persistence. Students who are more prepared academically earn higher fall GPAs and have higher retention. The data highlight five key risk factors for retention: Low index score Low high school GPA Not enrolling in Freshman Seminar Being undecided, pre-engineering, pre-business or pre-nursing Not using an Excel Center Recommendations for improving retention must address two aspects of academics: admitting students who can be successful at UCCS and providing all students the requisite support they need to be successful, both in and out of the classroom. The recommendations to the Leadership Team address these issues. While academics appear to be the major contributor to student success and persistence, other factors are important and suggest strategies for improving retention. Out-of-state students have surprisingly low retention, for example, which suggests strategies for working with housing and the mentoring program. Freshman Seminar can be better used for career exploration, working with first-generation students, academic skill development, academic support, and campus involvement. This report includes six recommendations to address these risk factors of retention with the goal of minimizing attrition and improving access to our institution. 1

Retention Rate Retention of Fall 2009 First-Time Freshmen In Fall 2009, there were 1097 first-time freshmen; 738 of these students returned in Fall, 2010. This retention rate of 67.3% is similar to the previous year s retention. The table and chart below show the numbers of first-time freshmen, the numbers of retained students, and the percent retention rates from 1993 to 2010 (Source: Institutional Research). Freshman Retention Rates 1993-2009 Fall Cohort N Number Retained Retention Rate 1993 373 231 62% 1994 388 231 60% 1995 432 257 59% 1996 445 295 66% 1997 601 366 61% 1998 722 465 64% 1999 774 474 61% 2000 790 484 61% 2001 807 497 62% 2002 919 613 67% 2003 920 612 67% 2004 964 640 66% 2005 1025 644 63% 2006 996 674 68% 2007 1013 713 70% 2008 1157 775 67% 2009 1097 738 67% Retention Rates 1993-2009 80% 75% 70% 65% 60% 55% 50% 45% 40% 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 Fall Cohort 2

Demographic Factors and Retention Table 1 below gives the retention rates for various demographic factors of the Fall 2009 freshman cohort. The total number of students in each category is designated as N in the table and the percentage of that group is in parentheses. Factors which have a significant effect on retention are designated with an asterisk (*), using p < 0.05. Unless otherwise noted, the differences are not statistically significant. Table 1. Demographic Factors of Retained Freshmen Factor N (% of Students) Retention Rate Gender Female 573 (52%) 69.1% Male 524 (48%) 65.3% Ethnicity N (% of Students) Retention Rate White 780 (76%) 68.5% Students of Color 249 (24%) 64.3% American Indian 10 60.0% Asian 65 75.4% Black 36 55.6% Hispanic 138 61.6% Alien, Unknown 68 64.7% State of Residency N (% of Students) Retention Rate Colorado 915 (83%) 68.1% Living out of state 1 168 (15%) 62.5% Alaska 5 60% Arizona 11 54.5% California 27 81.5% Florida 5 60% Hawaii 5 40% Illinois 6 33% Iowa 5 80% Michigan 5 80% Ohio 5 40% Texas 11 45.5% Wisconsin 5 50% Armed Forces of Europe 6 66.7% 1 Based upon home state. Results given for states with five or more students. Housing Status N (% of Students) Retention Rate On-Campus 516 (47%) 68.8% Commuter 581 (53%) 65.9% 3

Student Status* N (% of Students) Retention Rate Significance Full-time (12 or more CH) 1022 (93%) 68% p <.003 Part-time 75 (7%) 52% First-generation Status* N (% of Students) Retention Rate Significance First Generation 271 (28%) 58% p =.000 Not First-Generation 694 (72%) 72% Of the various demographic factors, only first-generation status and full-time/part-time status differed significantly in retention, with students whose parents graduated from college and full-time students being retained to a significantly greater extent than firstgeneration and part-time students. First-generation students are more likely to be students of color and lower income than students whose parents graduated from college: 41% of students of color and 24% of white students and 51% of Pell-eligible students are first generation. Academic Factors Affecting Retention Academics play a critical role in retention. Table 2 shows the relationship between retention academic factors, including fall GPA, college and major, enrollment in Freshman Seminar, use of the Excel Centers, and financial aid. Table 2: Academic Factors Affecting Retention 2 Factor N (% of Students) Retention Rate Significance College* p = 0.032 Business 153 (14%) 70.6% Engineering 110 (10%) 75.5% Letters, Arts & Sciences 728 (66%) 64.1% Nursing 81 (7%) 75.3% Public Affairs 25 (2%) 76.0% LAS Pre-College Majors Pre-Business 89 57.3% Pre-Engineering 81 49.4% Pre-Nursing 71 64.8% Pre-Health Science 17 76.5% Majors 3 BI Game Design 16 68.8% Biology (BIOL & BLBS) 72 77.8% Chemistry (CHEM & 21 71.4% CMBS) Communication 20 55.0% Criminal Justice 25 76.0% Computer Science 14 71.4% 4

Retention English 40 57.5% Engineering Undecided 26 88.5% Health Science 27 74.1% History 20 85.0% Undecided 160 69.4% Mechanical Engineering 38 76.3% Marketing 26 69.2% Nursing Prep 54 75.9% Political Science 18 50.0% Psychology 54 72.2% Sociology 11 63.6% Sports Management 36 83.3% Visual and Performing Arts 18 55.6% 2 Based upon fall census date 3 Given for majors enrolling 10 or more freshmen Retention and GPA: Retention is strongly correlated to academic performance: Students who earned a higher fall GPA were retained to a significantly greater extent. Approximately half of the freshman cohort earned a 3.0 or higher and 20% of the freshman cohort earned below a 2.00 in the fall semester. Table 3. Retention as a Function of Fall GPA. Fall GPA N % of Class Retention Rate 0-0.99 GPA 86 8% 16.3% 1.00-1.99 GPA 133 12% 41.4% 2.00-2.99 GPA 349 32% 69.9% 3.00-4.00 GPA 529 48% 80.3% Retention and Fall GPA 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 0-0.99 1.00-1.99 2.00-2.99 3.00-4.00 Fall GPA 5

Course Enrollment and Retention: Declared major and college have an impact on retention, as do the courses students take their first semester. Retention is positively correlated with enrollment in Freshman Seminar and negatively correlated with enrollment in math and anatomy and physiology. Enrollment in Freshman Seminar: Students who enroll in Freshman Seminar have a higher retention rate, but the effect is not statistically significant. Approximately three-quarters of new freshmen take Freshman Seminar and approximately half of these are also in housing. Table 4. Retention as a Function of Enrollment in Freshman Seminar and Housing Status ID101 Enrollment N Retention Fall GPA Enrolled in Freshman Seminar 803 (73%) 68.6% 2.73 Not Enrolled in Freshman Seminar 294 (27%) 63.6% 2.64 ID101 and Housing Status N Retention Fall GPA ID101 and Housing 427 (39%) 70.0% 2.79 ID101 and Commuter 376 (34%) 67.3% 2.66 No ID101 and Housing 89 (8%) 64.0% 1.91 No ID101 and Commuter 205 (19%) 63.4% 2.70 The highest retention rates occur with students who are both in housing and enrolled in Freshman Seminar and the lowest retention rates for commuter students who don t take Freshman Seminar. Students who live in housing but don t take Freshman Seminar have much lower average fall GPAs than other students. Retention and Freshman Seminar/Housing Status No ID101 and commuter No ID101 and Housing 63% 64% ID101 and commuter 67% ID101 and Housing 70% Part-time students have significantly lower retention than full-time students who take 12 credit hours or more. In general, part-time students who take Freshman Seminar have 6

higher retention but lower fall GPAs, than part-time students who don t take Freshman Seminar. Freshman Seminar and Student Status N Retention Fall GPA Enrolled in ID101 and part-time 34 56% 2.44 Not Enrolled in ID101 and part-time 41 49% 2.67 The grade earned in Freshman Seminar is highly predictive of retention. Students who earn a C or below in the course or who withdraw from the course have significantly lower retention: Table 5. Retention as a Function of Performance in Freshman Seminar Grade in Freshman Seminar N Retention A 489 78.7% B 173 67.6% C 74 41.9% D 26 34.6% F 18 27.8% I 7 42.9% W 16 6.3% Enrollment in Math Classes: Taking a math course the first semester confers a slightly higher risk of attrition, although the effect is not statistically significant. Students who enroll in a lower level math course are less likely to be retained than students who don t take math. Students who enroll in a higher level math course have greater retention than students who don t. Being successful in a math class, defined as earning a grade of C or higher, has a significant impact on retention. Table 6. Retention as a Function of Enrollment in a Math Course Math Courses N Retention Enrolled in math course 517 66.5% Not enrolled in math course 580 67.9% Success in a Math Course N Retention Earning A, B, or C in a math course 319 80% Earning D, F, I, or W in a math course 198 45.5% 7

Math Course Enrolled N Retention Math 090 32 62.5% Math 104 College Algebra 232 61.6% Math 105 Pre-Calculus 52 67.3% Math 112 Business Calculus 63 76.2% Math 131 Calculus (2 semesters) 16 62.5% Math 135 Calculus I 97 72.2% Math 136 Calculus II 20 75.0% Enrollment in Anatomy and Physiology: BIOL 201 Anatomy and Physiology I is a high-risk course for nursing and pre-nursing majors. Only about half of the 70 freshmen who took A&P their first semester were able to complete the course with a grade of C or higher. The pass rate for NUPR majors was 69% but only 33% for the PRNU majors. Students who are not successful in Anatomy and Physiology have a significantly lower retention rate than students who are successful (Table 7). Table 7. Retention as a Function of Success in Biology 201. Success in BIOL 201 N Retention Earned A, B, or C 38 (54%) 89.5% Earned D, F, I or W 32 (46%) 53.1% Early Alert: The impact of academic performance on retention can also be seen from early alert notification, with freshmen receiving one or more alerts having significantly lower retention. In Fall, 30.0% of the first-time freshmen were alerted in one or more courses. Similarly, LAS students who go on academic probation have lower retention. Last fall, almost 20% of the LAS freshmen went on academic probation. (Results were not available for the other colleges.) Table 8. Retention as a Function of Number of Alerts and Probationary Status Academic Indicators N Retention Rate Number of Alerts 0 Alerts 767 (70%) 71.8% 1 Alert 233 (21%) 58.4% 2 Alerts 74 (7%) 55.4% 3 Alerts 17 (2%) 47.1% 4 Alerts 6 (0.5%) 33.3% Probationary Status (LAS) N Retention Rate On academic probation 144 (20%) 36.5% Not on academic probation 584 (80%) 71.1% 8

Fall GPA In general, students with lower index scores, lower high school GPAs, and lower ACT test scores received more alerts than students with higher entry scores. Retention and Academic Preparedness: Retention is strongly correlated to first semester GPA and fall GPA is significantly correlated to academic preparedness, most strongly to high school GPA. Students with higher entry characteristics earn higher GPAs and have higher retention than students with lower entry characteristics, as can be seen in Table 9. Table 9. Retention and Fall GPA as a Function of Index Score Index Score N % of Average % Earning a 2.0 Retention Rate Class Fall GPA GPA or Higher <80 3 0.3% 1.45 33% 0% 80-83 9 0.8% 1.94 27.8% 44.4% 84-87 29 2.7% 2.12 37.9% 62.1% 88-91 55 5.1% 2.17 58.2% 56.4% 92-94 87 8.0% 2.14 63.2% 54.0% 96-99 115 10.6% 2.26 70.4% 60.0% 100-103 101 9.3% 2.52 77.2% 70.3% 104-107 107 9.9% 2.46 71.0% 60.7% 108-111 123 11.3% 2.81 86.2% 65.9% 112 and higher 457 42.1% 3.13 91.5% 75.9% While there is much variation in performance, the trend is clear that more academically prepared students earn higher grades and are retained to a significantly greater extent. 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 Fall GPA versus Index Score 0 75 85 95 105 115 125 135 145 y = 0.0339x - 0.9721 Index Score R² = 0.1794 9

There are some notable discrepancies in the general relationship of higher index scores and higher retention. Students with index scores in the 104-107 range actually have lower retention than students with lower index scores. Choice of major may be one of the contributing factors relating to the overall lower retention: Over half of the students in this index score grouping have a major that is at higher risk of attrition. The top four majors for this group are undecided (21%), pre-engineering (13%), pre-nursing (11%), and pre-business (9%). The discrepancy between expectation and ability may be a deterrent to retention. High school GPA seems to be the best predictor of Fall GPA and for retention. Retained students had a significantly higher average high school GPA than did non-retained students (3.347 versus 3.147). There were no statistically significant differences in test scores between retained and non-retained students. The strongest correlation with Fall GPA is high school GPA (r = 0.504). Table 9. Retention as a Function of High School GPA HS GPA N Average Retention Rate Fall GPA <2.00 4 1.6182 0% 2.000-2.250 10 1.4397 50% 2.251-2.500 31 1.6739 48% 2.501-2.750 93 2.0446 49.5% 2.751-2.999 165 2.2345 60% 3.000-3.250 214 2.5310 68% 3.251-3.500 189 2.7749 69% 3.501-3.750 182 3.1846 74% 3.751-4.000 197 3.3754 80% Financial Aspects of Retention: Financial aid plays an important role in retaining students, particularly for low income students. Of the 966 students for which data is available, approximately one-third (31%) are Pell eligible. Lower income students and students of color are often first-generation students. Over half of first-generation students are Pell eligible (55%) as compared to only 21% of non-first generation students. There are also differences related to ethnicity, with only 25% of white students being Pell eligible as compared to 40-50% of students of color. Table 10 shows the impact of receiving financial aid on retention. Work study students and students receiving financial aid have higher retention than other groups of students. 10

Table 10: Retention as a Function of Financial Aid Pell Eligibility N Retention Rate Pell eligibility 296 (31%) 65.5% No Pell eligibility 670 (69%) 69% Work Study Award N Retention Rate Work study award 47 (5%) 79% No work study award 919 (95%) 67% Financial Aid Status N Retention Rate Awarded aid 150 (16%) 68% No aid awarded 816 (84%) 65% Retention and Resource Use: Freshmen who used academic support services had higher retention than students who didn t. Excel Center users earned significantly higher grades (2.92 versus 2.51) and were retained to a significantly greater extent (76% versus 59%) than were students who didn t use an Excel Center, even though the students had comparable index scores, SAT and ACT scores. Less than half of the freshman class (533 or 49%) visited one or more of the Excel Centers during their first semester: 368 freshmen used just one center, 137 freshmen used two centers, 27 students used three centers, and only one student used four centers. Individual results for Centers are shown here in Table 11. Table 11. Excel Center Usage and Retention Center N FTF who Used Center Retention Rate Language Technology Center 66 (6%) 72.7% Mathematics Learning Center 118 (11%) 77.1% Oral Communications Center 145 (13%) 74.5% Science Learning Center 156 (14%) 74.4% Writing Center (and OWL) 242 (22%) 80.6% University Counseling Center: Ten of the 2009 Freshman cohort were seen for counseling issues in the 2009-2010 academic year and six additional students started receiving services this year, for a total of 16 students. Nine of the students received emergency services, one was a referral from the Student Response Team and six came in for self-initiated psychotherapy. Currently, 94% of the students (15 of the 16 students) are still enrolled. 11

Learning Communities: This past year, we piloted three freshman learning communities, an upper division learning community, and a support-intensive learning community for window admitted students. Each learning community paired a Freshman Seminar class with one or more classes. The Engineering Zone Learning Community paired Imagine with MAE 1502 and a calculus class. Colorado Living Learning Community paired Colorado Living with GES 101. Inner World paired Metamind with COMM 201. The C3 Scholars Learning Community, a collaborative project through MOSAIC and the First Year Experience Office for window-admitted students, paired Driven with ID111 Academic Fitness and SOC 222. Table 12. Retention and Learning Community Pilot Programs Learning Community N Fall GPA Retention Rate Engineering Zone 9 3.04 88.9% Colorado Living 7 2.80 85.7% Inner World 8 3.27 87.5% C3 Scholars 1 11 2.81 45.5% 1 Not funded through the Learning Community Initiative. The learning communities were all successful in retaining students, but the low numbers of participants and lack of comparison group make analysis difficult. The comparison group for C3 Learning Community was composed of students with low index scores. The learning community students had significantly higher retention and higher fall GPAs. The control comparison group had an average GPA of 1.14 and a retention rate of 33.3%. Although this learning community is resource-intensive, it seems to help students be more successful. Mentoring Program: The faculty/staff mentoring program is a shared initiative between First Year Experience, who works with freshmen, particularly focusing on commuter students not enrolled in Freshman Seminar, and MOSAIC, who works with students of color and others during their whole academic careers. Typically retention is higher for this group of students. There are some anomalies for this year, which we are trying to understand better. Last fall 42 of the freshmen had a mentor assigned, 29 freshmen through the FYE Office and 13 through the MOSAIC Office. The retention rate for the white students was 76%, while the retention rate for the students of color was 38%. Peer Mentor Club: Mentoring is an important component of helping freshmen transition to the university and there are not enough faculty and staff to partner with all freshmen. To solve this problem, we started the UCCS Peer Mentor Club. There are two goals for the program. One is to 12

increase the numbers of mentors so that every freshman not in Freshman Seminar would have an assigned mentor, so as to increase retention. The other goal is to recruit current freshmen with GPAs of 3.25 or higher to become a peer mentor, thereby increasing their retention by getting them more involved in the campus. The program is thus designed to increase retention of both groups. It is too early to see if the Peer Mentor Club will have an impact on retention, since the first class to receive a peer mentor is the Fall 2010 cohort. However, 31 of the Fall 2009 freshman class joined the Per Mentor Club. The retention rate for these students is 95%. Athletics: In Fall 2009 57 of the new freshmen were athletes. These students were retained at 77% and had slightly higher average fall GPAs (2.855 vs 2.699). Chancellors Leadership Class: The Fall 2009 CLC freshman cohort had five new freshmen. One student left to pursue nursing at CSU Pueblo. All other students were retained (80% retention). 13