Retention signifies an institution’s ability to retain students from year to year, encompassing an active partnership between curricular, co-curricular, and non-curricular units to maintain the student body's interest in quality programs, services, and campus environment. The University uses the first-year, fall-to-fall retention rate of full-time students to measure student achievement. The Retention Rates table below compares the University and their selected peer institutions for academic years 2015 to 2019. In 2019, NSU’s retention was 3% higher than its peer institutions at 74%, increasing 4% from the University’s 2018 rate. The institution set a target/threshold to achieve a 78% retention rate by the academic year 2024-25. The University implemented several initiatives to meet the target set for retention rates in the 2019-2025 Strategic Plan. The University developed a comprehensive university-wide retention plan and established a Student Success System to provide an array of centralized student support services.
Retention Rates
| |
NSU Retention Rates
|
Peer Institutions Retention Average Rates
|
| 2019 |
74% |
71% |
| 2018 |
70% |
71% |
| 2017 |
71% |
72% |
| 2016 |
77% |
73% |
| 2015 |
72% |
74% |
Source: Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)