Of students who started college in fall 2015, 73.4 percent persisted at any U.S. institution and 61.1 percent were retained at their starting institution in fall 2016¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associationalr1·q2
Currency · newest study 2017 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2022: baselines and conditions change
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? The overall first-year persistence rate for the fall 2015 entering cohort was 73.4 percent and the overall retention rate was 61.1 percent. → First-Year Persistence and Retention 2017
Evidence¶
First-Year Persistence and Retention 2017¶
First-Year Persistence and Retention. (2017). National Student Clearinghouse Snapshot Report. https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/NSC_SnapshotReport28_PersistenceRetention_Data_Tables.xlsx
q2 · i? · associational · r1
Descriptive analysis of National Student Clearinghouse enrollment records for the fall 2015 entering cohort, all sectors. The report states "73.4 percent persisted at any U.S. institution" while 61.1 percent were retained at the starting institution; no inferential statistics are printed.
"Of all students who started college in fall 20 1 5, 73.4 percent persisted at any U.S. institution in fall 20 16, while 6 1.1 percent were retained at their starting institution."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Among fall 2015 entrants, Asian students had the highest persistence rate (84.2 percent) and Black students the lowest (66.9 percent)
- First-year persistence declines with age at entry: 78.2 percent for students 20 and under, 57.8 percent for ages over 20 to 24, and 52.7 percent for students over 24
- In four-year private institutions, white and Asian students had nearly identical persistence rates (89.8 and 89.6 percent), but Asian students were more likely to continue at their starting institution (82.5 percent) — related
- On average, the overall persistence rate is about 13 percentage points higher than the retention rate, meaning nearly one in eight starting students transfer by the following fall — a broader claim this one bears on
- Sector persistence rates for fall 2015 entrants: 81.7 percent at four-year public, 84.9 percent at four-year private, 62.7 percent at two-year public, and 55.7 percent at four-year for-profit institutions — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
- In two-year public institutions, white students had a lower retention rate (50.2 percent) than Hispanic students (55.1 percent) because a higher share of white students transferred to four-year institutions — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
fall-2015-cohort-persistence-73-4-retention-61-1 |
title |
Of students who started college in fall 2015, 73.4 percent persisted at any U.S. institution and 61.1 percent were retained at their starting institution in fall 2016 |
description |
Of students who started college in fall 2015, 73.4 percent persisted at any U.S. |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2017 |
recheck_by |
2022 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-16 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — first-year-persistence-and-retention-2017 |
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