S1 - E65 - Benchmark study of retention rates and completion rates at comparable schools (Data)

Does your institution have a publicized, stated retention goal? Is the goal realistic? Do you have data that supports your ability to achieve or exceed your retention goals?We often find campuses, just like ours, who have set lofty retention goals without guiding their aspirations with good data. When we arrived on our campus we inherited a noble, lofty, and catchy retention goal for our campus, “Strive for 85.” This goal of achieving a retention rate or 85% was set by a group of well-intentioned staff who cared deeply for our students and hoped for their success. The catch? The goal was not realistic; at least that is what the data told us.It is important for campuses to set a realistic retention goal; one that stretches their campus but is also achievable with lots of hard work. To arrive at a realistic retention goal, campuses should analyze institutions from around the state, region, and country that are similar to their institution. As we completed this exercise, we looked at schools with similar enrollments, community size, student profile, degree offerings, reputation, etc. and then compared retention rates. What we typically find is that these types of institutions all have similar retention rates. This data gives us a sense of a reasonable retention goal for our school.As your campus sets goals for the retention rate you would like to achieve, make sure you take the time to guide your goal setting with good data. This will make sure that members of your campus can believe in your goal and will not get discouraged along the way.

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