The study presents data from 30 colleges and universities in the USA about their recent retention experiences, with data spanning 2018 through Fall 2021. Survey participants discuss how their pandemic experience impacted key retention-oriented student services such as financial aid, academic advising, tutoring, childcare, career services and assessment and how these services will be re-shaped, or not, going forward. Survey participants give key retention rate data for graduate students, adult students, undergraduate students, low income students, STEM students and other demographics and categories.
The report also looks at spending on retention oriented consulting services, both current and expected, and looks particularly closely at college efforts, and satisfaction with such efforts, to retain students in lower income and other socially disadvantaged groups. In open ended questions, survey participants describe what they have done well, or not, in recent years and what their expectations are for the near future.
Just a few of the report’s many findings are that:
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33% felt that their overall retention rates would remain about the same over the next few years.
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A plurality of 36.67% felt that online tutoring efforts during the pandemic had been only somewhat effective.
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Services for students with disabilities was the service most disrupted by the pandemic and most in need of immediate attention.
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Survey participants estimated that 21.8% of the students enrolled in their programs were parents.
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About 20% of survey participants were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with recent college efforts to reach the students most vulnerable to dropping out during the pandemic.
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Same college completion rates for students starting community college were only a mean of 31%.
Data in the report is broken out by size and type or Carnegie class of college, as well as for college tuition level, and for public and private colleges.