Stop-out rate is the proportion of students in a cohort who temporarily leave the institution for one or more terms and later return, as distinguished from permanent withdrawal.
How it works
The institution defines a stop-out as a student who is absent for at least one required term and who re-enrolls within a specified window (for example, two years). The rate is the number of such students divided by the entering cohort or by a defined population. Analysts compare stop-out rates by age, enrollment intensity, and program. Re-enrollment campaigns target recent stop-outs. Graduation-rate calculations continue to include stop-outs in the original cohort.
Example: of 1,000 adult online students who entered in fall 2022, 180 were absent for at least one term and 110 of them returned within two years. The stop-out rate is 11 percent (110/1,000). The remaining 70 are classified as withdrawn for internal tracking.
How it differs
Retention rate measures fall-to-fall return and counts stop-outs as not retained for that year. Graduation rate includes stop-outs who later finish. Permanent withdrawal is departure without return. Stop-out rate isolates the temporary-interruption pattern.
Common errors
Treating every non-retained student as a permanent loss. Excluding stop-outs from graduation-rate cohorts. Comparing stop-out rates across institutions that use different windows for “later return.”
References
- 1. Institutional stop-out trackingTemporary departure measures
- 2. Adult-learner persistence researchPatterns of interruption
Stop-out rate is the proportion of students in a cohort who temporarily leave the institution for one or more terms and later return, as distinguished from permanent withdrawal.