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Definition: The percentage of entering first-time freshmen who are re-enrolled one year later.

Rationale for Selection: Retention rate is a commonly used measure to determine the extent to which students are making satisfactory progress in meeting their academic goals and progressing to degree completion. Monitoring this measure, along with other related measures, alerts the faculty and administration regarding actions needed to improve support for students to be successful.

Calculation: First-time freshmen entering the University in one fall semester are tracked to determine their subsequent enrollment in the fall semester one year later.

Threshold: The threshold retention rate for first-time freshmen is 62%. This threshold was established based on recent history in retention rates and an analysis of admission, academic support, and student support efforts.

Performance: For freshmen classes entering the University during the period 2018 to 2023, the first year retention rate varied between 59 and 74 percent— a rate most recently near the 50th percentile for Southeastern CIC institutions. (For the period 2014 through 2018, the 50th percentile rate (median) was 68 percent.) For VWU’s 2023 first-year class, the retention rate was 74 percent, an increase of 7 percentage points over the prior first-time freshman class.

Figure 8.1-1, below, “Fall to Fall Retention Rates by Entering Class Year (2018-2023)” charts the retention rates from the year of entry from 2018 - 2023.

This represents a substantial improvement in retention over the last 5-year time frame, bringing the institution from below the value for the comparison group to well above the comparison group. Between 2015 and 2023, the institution met the threshold during 7 years, and fell short of the threshold in 2 years (2015 and 2018). During this time frame, the institution has implemented several changes intended to better support students and boost retention.

Figure 8.1-1, below, "Fall to Fall Retention Rates by Entering Class Year (2018-2023)" charts the retention rates from the year of entry from 2018 - 2023.

An important initiative to improve retention is the WesBridge Program. Piloted in the summer of 2021, the program serves as a bridge between high school and college. Students in the program are provided the opportunity to jump-start their college education and further develop their academic skills so that their transition into college is as smooth as possible. The program takes place in August prior to the start of the semester and allows students to take one class and earn two credits. In addition to the course, students also participate in programming to help them build study skills, develop time-management and organization strategies, and to help them build bonds within their cohort. Students are also introduced to campus resources and support services and the greater Norfolk/Virginia Beach area so that they begin the semester confident of their surroundings.

Students who successfully complete the program will start the fall with two semester credit hours already completed toward graduation requirements. Students are selected for the program based on academic history, first-generation status, or social/emotional health and wellbeing. The program enrolls 40- 50 students each summer. Students who successfully complete the program start the fall semester with the rest of the first-year student cohort. Students who do not successfully complete the program are provided with criteria that they must adhere to throughout their first full semester (such as weekly meetings with a first-year academic advisor or weekly meetings with a tutor at the Learning Center) or are withdrawn from the institution. Students are tracked throughout their time at VWU to determine effectiveness of the program and how well and how many persist. During the program, students can make important social connections with faculty, support staff, and a cohort of students, all of which have been documented to support student persistence. This importance of social connections to student persistence and retention was one of the central conclusions in Chambliss & Takas’ 2014 book “How College Works”.

Compared to the 2021-2023 data presented above, the Retention in the WesBridge program was 42.9% for the fall 2021 cohort, 48.5% for the fall 2022 cohort, and 79.6% for the fall 2023 cohort, which was ahead of the general retention rate for 2023 (data from VWU Institutional Research).    Preliminary data for the fall 2024 cohort suggest that WesBridge students are retaining at approximately 6.5% below the general student average for the fall 2024 cohort. While this may suggest that the students in this program fare poorer than the average measure (except for the fall 2023 cohort), the students selected for this program are selected because they have one or more of several risk factors (i.e., low HS GPA, 1st generation status), which increase the likelihood of attrition. Thus, the WesBridge student retention actually exceeds the expectation for a student with one or more of the risk factors, suggesting this program has been effective at supporting retention for the institution.

The institution has increased student support on many fronts in the last five to seven years, including enhanced advising for first year and undeclared students, the academic renewal program, improvements to the learning center, tutoring services, instructional technology, and enhanced ability to track students. As part of this, faculty are required to track student attendance in Blackboard, which allows immediate feedback to the advising staff when a student starts to miss class regularly. In these cases, the learning center staff can intervene proactively, without waiting for a faculty member to submit an academic alert. In 2023, the institution received a Title III Strengthening Institutions grant continue to strengthen this enhanced student support and intervention, with the intent of further supporting student success and retention.

Another potentially important change is requiring a January term course for 1st Year students and sophomores. Previously, students who elected not to take a January term course spent up to 7 weeks out of class at home (the time following finals in Dec. through the end of January term). This extended time frame out of school presented increased opportunity for attrition. Beginning in 2019, first year students were required to take a January course, and this requirement was expanded to include the sophomore year during 2023, reducing the opportunity for attrition. This change in policy also gives a typical student the opportunity to take nine courses in a year (four during fall, one in January, and four in the Spring), instead of eight courses if they were not required to take a January course. In order to graduate in four years, students must average 8 courses per year. By establishing a system where the default condition is 9 courses taken during each of the first two academic years, students can drop a course where they are not doing well, and still stay on track to graduate in four years. In addition, this sets the expectation that VWU students participate in January term, and many, but not all do so all four years. Adding a January class allows student athletes to potentially take a reduced load in season, and still remain on track to graduate in four years. While this option was previously possible, many students elected to not exercise this option, because of the modest added fees associated with a January term course. By rolling this cost into tuition during the first two years, students have “already paid for” this experience, and are required to take a January course. Thus they utilize this option, with positive impacts on retention and progress toward graduation.

As one measure of this positive outcome, students were more likely to be successful in a January class, with 94% of students earning a grade of A, B, or C, as opposed to 84% of students earning an A, B or C during Fall/Spring in-person classes and 81% of students in online classes (Fig. 8.1-2). Because students in January class only have one 3-week class, they can focus all of their attention on that course, with fewer distractions. The result is higher student success in January classes. By requiring 1st and 2nd year students to take a class during a term that tends to have higher student success, and during which we can reduce attrition (by shortening the time away from campus), we believe that this has contributed positively to student retention.

All of these factors are known to be Best Practices that have been proven to support student success at other institutions. In the past few years, we have simultaneously implemented or enhanced several of these Best Practices. Likely the increase in student retention observed during the past 5 years is due to the combination of these efforts to promote student success.

Figure 8.1-2 Student Success rates in Fall/Spring In-person classes, January Classes, and Online classes between the last half of summer 2020 and January 2024.

The retention measure focusing on first time freshmen (Figure 8.1-1) is primarily focused on in-person college students, as they are more likely to follow a traditional 4+ year pathway to the degree. In contrast, online student populations are known to take a less linear pathway in their studies, with degree pauses and restarts being more common (i.e., Grau-Valldosera et al. (2019), Sanchez-Gelabert (2020), Rahmani et al. (2024)). While some of our online students are included in the measures graphed in Figure 8.1-1 (if they are first time freshmen), it is also helpful to examine year over year persistence in online populations, including new and continuing students. Likewise, not all online students begin their studies in the traditional fall term (Fall A) - some begin in Fall B or spring A, or summer. Our office of institutional research has been tracking these types of data, using the measure of whether “new to VWU” online students were re-enrolled or graduated within 12 months. This is graphed below in Figure 8.1-3. Persistence of online students varied dramatically from year to year, but averaged 67% across the time period measured. These values are comparable to the average retention rates observed for first-year freshman retention (Figure 8.1-1. Although the online VWU student population is smaller than the traditional in-person population (making it more susceptible to year to year fluctuations), the mean year to year retention (Fig. 8.1-3) is similar to that reported for first time freshmen (Fig. 8.1-1), and it is important to track trends in this growing segment of the institution.

Figure 8.1-3 Persistence of online VWU students, measured as reenrollment or graduation of online students who were new to VWU during 2019-2023.

 

Definition: A course is considered to be completed if the student has not (1) dropped/withdrawn from the course, (2) taken an incomplete grade, or (3) failed the course. While some students must leave a course for unanticipated, personal reasons, there are instances where the University could intervene to support improved completion of courses.

Rationale for Selection: Information on the rate at which students complete courses can help the University identify places in the curriculum delivery where students encounter unusual difficulties. Students who fail or withdraw from courses are less likely to persist because low grades or course withdrawals will extend the time to degree completion. Thus, course completion data can offer insight regarding problems of retention and graduation and guide development of interventions. Internally, completion rates are examined by individual courses to determine if actions with regard to particular courses are necessary.

Calculation: Course registrations and grades are analyzed after the end of the semester. The percentage of registered students who have not dropped/withdrawn, taken an incomplete, or received a failing grade in the course are defined to have completed the course.

Threshold: The threshold course completion of eighty-eight percent (88%) is considered an acceptable target for course completion because some interruptions are outside students’ control, while others might improve with interventions.

Performance: Figure 8.1-4 “Course Completion Rates by Academic Year,” displays course completion rates by academic year (fall and spring) for the last decade between 2014-15 and 2023-24. During most years (8 of 10 years reported), course completion rates were above the threshold value of 88%. After a decline a few years ago, completion rates have begun to increase in the most recent semesters. The University has made a holistic effort to improve student retention through cooperation of offices across campus. A recently implemented initiative to improve retention is the WesBridge Program, which prepares high school students for success in their university courses, and is discussed in the Retention section above. Students in the program are provided the opportunity to jump-start their college education and further develop their academic skills so that their transition into college is as smooth as possible. In Academics, the Academic Alert system became better systematized and effective when, in 2019, it became a function of the responsibility of the Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and the staff of the Learning Center. Faculty submit Academic Alerts when they observe patterns in coursework that cause concern. The Academic Alerts provide the opportunity to intervene and assist, and when appropriate provide referrals for counseling, tutoring, and advising services to enable such students to succeed in their coursework. The purpose of the system is to help every student successfully complete courses, and the reporting and recordkeeping are strictly non-punitive. This system is now overseen by the Associate Vice President for Student Success, who works under the direction of the Vice President for Enrollment and Student Success.

The Associate Vice President for Student Success works in concert with the Care Team, which brings together information from Academics, Campus Life, Student Health Services, Residence Life, Athletics, and Financial Aid to help support student success.

Figure 8.1-4 Course Completion Rates by Academic Year  

While the institution continues to track course completion rate, changes to the January term (requiring a January term for 1st and 2nd year students) could serve to mitigate some of the effects of any lower course completion rates, as discussed above. Students need to complete 8 courses per academic year to remain on target to graduate in four years. Because students are required to take a January term course during their first and second years, students can take nine courses over the course of an academic year. This gives them a cushion in case they need to drop a course; even in this case, they can still remain on track toward graduation. 

In addition to the value of the institution tracking course completion rates, individual programs can also track course completion rates, or related metrics, such as the DFW rate (the proportion of students earning a D, F, or Withdrawing from the course: effectively the inverse of course completion rates). As an example, the Biology department recently implemented curricular changes to address high DFW rates and low course completion rates for the first course in the Biology major sequence. Through these changes, the department was able to reduce the DFW rate increase course completion in a bottleneck course by ~20%, without other adverse impacts on student learning outcomes in the program.

Definition: The percentage of full-time first-time students (entering freshmen) who earn a bachelor’s degree in six years after entry.

Rationale for Selection: Graduation rate is a commonly used measure to determine the extent to which students are making satisfactory progress in meeting their academic goals and progressing toward degree completion. Monitoring this measure, along with other related measures, alerts the faculty and administration regarding actions needed to improve support for students to be successful. Examination of data by gender, race, and socioeconomic status, provide detailed information to assist the faculty in targeting needed student support efforts.

Calculation: First-time freshmen entering the University in one fall semester are tracked to the end of what would be their sixth year of enrollment to determine whether or not they have earned a bachelor’s degree.

Threshold: The target threshold for graduation rate is 48 percent. This threshold was established based on history of retention rates, recent graduation rates, and an analysis of admission, academic support, and student support efforts.

Performance: Over the past ten cohorts, the University’s graduation rates have ranged from 42% to 52%. Since the 2006 cohort, VWU has achieved this threshold for 7 cohorts, and has fallen short of the threshold 6 times. The 2013 cohort’s rate of 48% is above the 50th percentile for our group of Peer institutions; for the period 2009 through 2013, the median rate for the peer group was 47 percent. See Figure 8.1-5 below.

Figure 8.1-5 Six-Year Graduation Rates by Entering Class Year

As previously discussed, several interventions have been applied to improve retention, student academic success, and graduation. Student support service has expanded during the pandemic. The University received a Title III grant to help serve underrepresented populations. This enabled the hiring of a Student Success Coordinator and a Coordinator of Student Professional Development. The Student Success Coordinator focuses her efforts on the first two years, and supporting students to build successful foundations and succeed through their underclass years. The Coordinator of Student Professional Development focuses on upperclass students and helping them to transfer their classroom knowledge into professional pursuits so that they are prepared for post-graduation success.

It is important to note that a) the reported graduation rate has been consistently tracked by the VWU Office of Institutional Research, and b) the reported graduation rate by definition includes a time lag of six years. Thus, the most recent year reported in Figure 8.1-5 is the 2018 cohort, whereas the retention rate data reported in Figure 8.1-1 begins with the retention rate for that 2018 cohort. During 2018, the freshman to sophomore retention rate was 59%, and the six year graduation rate for that cohort was 42%. With improvements to the retention rates in subsequent years (from 59% to 74%, Figure 8.1-1), we would anticipate that the six year graduation rate should show similar proportional increases in the coming years.

Graduation by Campus Cohorts - Disaggregated Data

Graduation by Gender 

Using the same methodology as the overall graduation rates displayed in Figure 8.1-1, above, graduation rates disaggregated by gender are displayed in Figure 8.1-6. Consistent with similar statistics at other colleges and universities, women graduate at a higher rate than men.

Figure 8.1-6 Six Year Graduation Rates by Gender Students Entering Fall 2018

Graduation by Race/Ethnicity

Six-Year graduation rates by race/ethnicity are displayed in Figure 8.1-7 (below) show some variation in degree completion among the listed cohorts. African American and Hispanic students graduate at lower rates than White or Multi-Racial students. These trends mirror nationwide trends in graduation rates by Race/ethnicity.

The institution has implemented a variety of interventions aimed at providing support to minority students to alleviate financial challenges and enhance academic performance. The University’s Title III grant specifically aims to help serve underrepresented populations. The hiring of a Student Success Coordinator and a Coordinator of Student Professional Development are especially aimed at providing additional support to minority students, in order to help bridge this achievement gap. Another effort is the recent NSF S-STEM Scholarship award aimed at supporting low-income, high achieving students pursuing a STEM major. The focus of this grant is based on income, so we will detail this award at greater length below, under the Pell/Non-Pell student achievement gap. However, there is some degree of overlap between underrepresented minority populations and low income populations, and this grant can help to retain students from these disadvantaged populations, and thus increase graduation rates. Overall, the institution is tracking these disparities based on Race/Ethnicity, and is actively engaged in activities designed to provide additional support, in an effort to reduce this gap.

Figure 8.1-7 Six Year Graduation Rates by Race/Ethnicity Students Entering Fall 2018

Retention by Socioeconomic Status (Pell/Non-Pell)

The federal Pell Grant is awarded to students with high financial need/low income.  Thirty-eight percent of new freshmen in the fall of 2018 received a Pell Grant. Figure 8.1-8 illustrates that students with high financial need (Pell) graduate at a 10 percent lower rate than students without such need. Efforts to improve retention and graduation rates previously discussed should impact Pell recipients positively.  In specific, we are addressing the needs of Pell students by providing proactive support through the Learning Center’s enhanced student support. Some of this enhanced support is coming from the Title III Strengthening Institutions grant, which explicitly targets first-generation and low-income students. This funding has enabled us to expand academic supporting staff (also see section 12.2) to ensure that students have access to the academic support resources necessary to succeed.

In addition, the recent grant from the National Science Foundation’s Scholarship in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program (NSF S-STEM) provides almost $2 million in scholarship support targeted toward low-income students pursuing a degree in one of the STEM fields at VWU. Specifically, this grant will provide scholarship support for STEM students in upcoming cohorts through graduation. The grant will also provide cohort-based learning environment with intense faculty mentoring, and support student engagement in experiential learning, career planning and networking opportunities. These efforts should increase first-to-second-year retention among low-income STEM students and increase rates of persistence resulting in STEM degree attainment. STEM fields include several of the larger majors on the VWU campus, so this intervention will help to remove barriers to success based on income or lack of support, and will impact the disparity addressed in Figure 8.1-8. It follows the summer cohort model of the WesBridge program, but focused on STEM students (STEMBridge). Prior efforts by these Principal Investigators that this cohort-based model can promote student success and increase retention rates of low-income and underrepresented students. This prior initiative at VWU did so through (1) financial support, (2) close student-advisor relationship/peer advising, (3) peer tutoring, (4) career planning services and networking, and (5) hands-on small, cohort learning groups. Students that received these forms of support graduated at a 73% rate, compared to a rate of 47% for the paired control group. In addition, students were almost twice as likely to remain within one of the STEM fields (73%, vs. 37% in the control group) (Gonsalves-Jackson et al. 2019). Expanding these efforts through the recent (2024) grant award should improve retention and graduation rates for low income STEM students in future years, and specifically address the achievement gaps illustrated in Figures 8.1-8 and 8.1-7.

Figure 8.1-8 Six Year Graduation Rates by Pell Eligibility for Students Entering Fall 2018

Definition: Contemporary pedagogical research has identified the “high impact practices” that most effectively impact student engagement and thereby contribute to persistence and student success. Many of the “high impact practices” are various types of courses and course activities that result in experiential learning, which means learning by doing rather than by absorption and comprehension of information. Three prominent high-impact practices have become an important focus in the VWU curriculum by virtue of their centrality to the University’s comprehensive curricular reform of 2011, and the focus of the 2015 Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). These include Internship courses, undertaking Study Away experiences, and performing Undergraduate Research.

Rationale for Selection: Following from the 2015 QEP, enhancing student participation in experiential learning has persisted as a meaningful measure of student achievement for VWU. Strengthening participation in the three experiences directly serves the first of the six goals of VWU’s Strategic Plan, to provide a transformative educational experience.

VWU highly values experiential learning experiences and expects that they enhance student graduation rates. These high impact practices help students to transfer classroom knowledge into professional settings. Students who participate in these types of experiences are more engaged, thus this data allows us to consider which students are accessing these resources and how these connect to other measures.

Calculation: Graduating seniors’ successful completion of a course specifically associated with one or more of the internships and study away were tracked. Participation in research with a faculty member were tallied from faculty records. Percentages of total graduating class were calculated.

Thresholds: Until stability of offerings has been reestablished following the COVID epidemic, thresholds will remain at 2019-20 levels. The threshold for internships is 38% participation.
The threshold for research is 24% participation. The threshold for study away is 4 percent participation. The threshold for completion of at least one experience is 58%.

Performance: With the 2015 pilot implementation of the Quality Enhancement Plan and full implementation in 2016, increases on experiential learning measures were expected. Figure 8.1-9 (below) illustrates that participation rates have fluctuated considerably across measures, with 2019-20 reaching a particular low point on all. The 2019-20 performance included the semester that COVID-19 became widespread. Since that time, the participation in experiential learning activities has rebounded, and actually has exceeded the values observed during 2010-2021, for Internships, Study Away, and All Activities Combined.  

The University continues to be committed to experiential learning. As stated in the University mission, VWU strives to “inspire students to build meaningful lives through engagement in Coastal Virginia’s dynamic metropolitan region, the nation, and the world.” Experiential learning is coordinated through the Office of Global Engagement, the Office of Community Engagement, the Office of Undergraduate Research, and the Office of Career Development.  All of these offices are centrally located at the Athenaeum: Center for Exploration & Discovery, which is located in the VWU Hofheimer Library.

All experiential learning programs collect data and assess progress to inform future efforts. The new General Education program launched in 2019 is anchored in developmentally sequenced seminars, structures analogous to curricular successes of the previous QEP. Both the University’s core curriculum and experiential learning now have scaffolded developmental structures to more effectively support students. Many departments have implemented major requirements that explicitly require one of the Experiential Learning Courses, such as an Internship or Research course. Some departments have a longer history of involving students in undergraduate research, whereas others historically had students conduct more internships. Many departments utilized the resources devoted as part of the 2015 QEP, in order to add opportunities in these areas, especially in areas where the department could add to student opportunities for experiential learning. Some departments had been historically strong in undergraduate research, and added internship opportunities.  Other departments found ways to add research and study away courses. In this aspect, the 2015 QEP was successful in promoting additional experiential learning opportunities across departments. In many ways, these experiential learning opportunities have become embedded in the VWU culture and the structure of many academic programs. The data in Figure 8.1-9 suggest that the institution is moving in the right direction on this metric, despite the setbacks introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 8.1-9 Graduates Who Completed a Mastery Level Experiential Course, 2010-11 to 2023-24

In terms of study away opportunities, students in the Batten Honors College (BHC) are expected to be “environmentally-conscious, strategic-thinking global citizens, ethically-bound to bettering their community and the world”. Because of this focus, BHC students are required to complete a Global Residency course, which is typically a full semester study abroad experience that is built into the scholarship support for the program. Participation by these students is included in the institutional totals reported in Figure 8.1-9, but that does not represent the entire difference observed. For students that are not part of the Batten Honors College, Global Engagement Course Grants are available to help offset the cost of a short term study away course. For all students studying abroad, the ISEP and Exchange programs can help to make the cost of a full semester abroad more affordable. In addition, the recent development of the Batten & Black School for International Studies allows VWU students the opportunity to study abroad at the University’s collaborative campus in Tokyo, Japan. VWU Students first participated in this experience in the Urban Ecology class during the summer of 2024; the following summer, this opportunity was expanded to include four VWU courses. Through these types of global opportunities, VWU aims to continue to expand opportunities for global engagement and other experiential high impact practices for all VWU students.