Retention rate

Retention rate = (students from the prior fall cohort still enrolled or completed by the current fall) ÷ adjusted prior fall cohort × 100.

For four-year institutions the retained count is students still enrolled. For other institutions it includes those who completed the program. Institutions report the full-time and part-time rates independently.

Example: a four-year institution enrolled 1,000 first-time, full-time bachelor’s-seeking students in fall 2024. Five left for allowable reasons, producing an adjusted cohort of 995. In fall 2025, 780 of those students are still enrolled. The full-time retention rate is 780 ÷ 995 ≈ 78.4 percent.

Graduation rate tracks whether the same type of cohort completes a credential within 150 percent of normal time. Completion rate on College Scorecard and other sources can use broader cohorts or longer windows. Persistence is sometimes used locally to include both retained and graduated students; IPEDS retention does not count graduates as retained at four-year institutions.

Including transfer-in students in the first-time cohort. Treating a student who transferred to another institution as retained. Comparing a full-time rate directly to a part-time rate without noting the separate cohorts. Using a local “returning student” percentage that includes continuing students rather than the IPEDS first-time definition.