Study shows rise in UD student retention

2:29 p.m., Jan. 13, 2004--Retention rates for UD freshmen continue to be strong, according to a recently released study conducted by the Office of Institutional Research and Planning at UD. Retention rates show a college’s ability to retain students from one year to the next.

The study, which tracked retention and graduation rates for first-time, full-time freshmen from fall 1993 through fall 2002, found that the first-year retention rate for freshmen entering in fall 2002 increased to an all-time high of 90 percent.

Collected data from the report also showed a continuous rise since 1993 in the four-year graduation rate for freshmen, with the freshman class entering in 1999 reaching a 62 percent retention rate by senior year—the highest of any class since 1991.

The five-year graduation rate for freshmen rose as well, reaching a new high of 74 percent for the freshman class entering in fall 1998.

In addition, the study tracked retention rates for different ethnic groups entering as freshmen over the same 10-year period. The most recent University of Delaware four-, five- and six-year graduation rates for each ethnic category (Caucasian, Asian, African-American and Hispanic) continue to be higher than similar statistics obtained from a sample of highly selective, public university competitors. This holds particularly true for African-American and Hispanic students. Representative schools in the comparison group include the Georgia Institute of Technology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the University of California-Berkeley, the College of William and Mary and the universities of Connecticut, Massachusetts-Amherst, North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Vermont and Virginia.

Besides helping the University track retention and graduation trends, the data are required by federal reporting mandates, as well as for other external sources, such as U.S. News and World Report and the Common Data Set.

For more information about the study, call Dale Trusheim, associate director of the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, at 831-2021.

Article by Becca Hutchinson

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