Persistence & Retention | National Student Clearinghouse Research Center

June 26, 2025

The Persistence and Retention report series examines early college enrollment outcomes for beginning postsecondary students, tracking both first spring and second-year persistence and retention rates. Students are considered persisted if they remain enrolled at any institution and retained if they remain at their starting institution — either in the spring term following initial enrollment (first spring) or in the fall of their second academic year (second year). In both timeframes, students who complete a credential before the applicable term are also included in the corresponding rates. The report is designed to help institutions understand trends and patterns in this important early success indicator, and identify disparities by institutional type, state, degree level, starting enrollment intensity, major field, and student demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and race and ethnicity. The report includes a data dashboard to enable viewers to analyze, visualize, and interact with the longitudinal data, which are also available for download.

Highlights

The national second fall persistence rate for the 2023 cohort is 77.6 percent, and the second fall retention rate is 69.5 percent. These rates represent increases of 0.3 percentage points (pp) and 0.4 pp, respectively, from the 2022 cohort.
Spring metrics showed similar gains: the first spring persistence rate reached 86.4 percent for the 2023 cohort (+0.4 pp), the second-highest level in the last nine years, just behind the 2017 cohort. The first spring retention rate climbed to 83.7 percent (+0.5 pp), the highest rate recorded over the same period.
Part-time students continue to face substantial disadvantages in both first spring and second fall persistence and retention. Among Fall 2023 starters, first spring persistence was 67.4 percent for part-time students, compared to 92.1 percent for their full-time peers. Similarly, second fall persistence was 53.2 percent for part-time starters, versus 84.4 percent for full-time starters.
Compared to the Fall 2022 entering cohort, the Fall 2023 cohort saw stability or growth in their first spring persistence and retention rates at the majority of states. However, Maryland (-3.4 pp) and New Mexico (-6.1pp) saw notable drops in first spring persistence rates. Second fall persistence rates also remained generally stable or showed growth across states, with the District of Colombia (92.1%), Rhode Island (85.1%), Vermont (84.8%), and Massachusetts (84.8%), reporting some of the highest rates for the Fall 2023 cohort.