Yearly Success and Progress Rates | National Student Clearinghouse Research Center

Yearly Success and Progress Rates

Fall 2015 Beginning Cohort

July 19, 2022

First-time full-time students complete credentials at more than twice the rate of their part-time counterparts by year six (67.4% versus 32.9%).

The stop-out rate of part-time students is more than twice that of full-time students (53.6% versus 24.9%).

The Yearly Success and Progress Rates report goes beyond traditional student outcome measures by showing year-by-year rates of retention, persistence, transfer, completion, and stop-out. The report is designed to help institutions and states better identify and inform effective intervention points to increase student success.

The latest data presents yearly academic progress for approximately 2.3 million individuals who began college for the first time in fall 2015 with the intent to earn a credential. It shows the highest level of academic progress made, broken out by the type of starting institution and enrollment intensity at entry.

National Highlights

Among first-time degree-seeking students enrolling full-time in fall 2015, 47.3 percent had completed a postsecondary credential by the end of year four, while 21.7 percent were no longer enrolled. By the end of year six, 67.4 percent had graduated, including 10.7 percent who did so after transferring to another institution, while 24.9 percent had left college without earning a credential and 7.7 percent remained enrolled (Figure 1).
For students entering part time, 20.3 percent had completed a postsecondary credential by the end of year four, while 48.4 percent were no longer enrolled. By the end of year six, 32.9 percent had graduated — 23.6 percent from the starting institution and 9.3 percent from elsewhere — while 53.6 percent had left college without earning a credential (Figure 2).
The retention and persistence disadvantage in students entering part time are significant. The rate at which part-time beginning students stop out is more than twice the rate of full-time entrants in each subsequent year observed.