IPEDS Definition
A measure of the rate at which students persist in their educational program at an institution, expressed as a percentage.
- For 4-year institutions, this is the percentage of first-time bachelors (or equivalent) degree-seeking undergraduates from the previous fall who are again enrolled in the current fall.
- For all other institutions this is the percentage of first-time degree/certificate-seeking students from the previous fall either re-enrolling or completing their program by the current fall.
- Students can be removed from a cohort only if:
- By death or total and permanent disability.
- Service with a foreign aid service of the federal government, such as the Peace Corps.
- Service on official church missions.
- By service in the armed forces.
EWU Definition
Institutional Research can calculate retention rates for different cohorts, time periods, terms, and more.
Retention Rate Formula
To calculate a retention rate, we need to define the cohort, a starting point in time, and an ending point in time. We then apply this formula: ((total students in cohort continuing to following year) + (total students in cohort graduating the previous year)) / ((total students in the cohort) – (total students removed from cohort))
