NWC graduation and persistence rates increasing

Posted 4/7/15

Those are two of the measures that the Wyoming Community College Commission is tracking in an annual report, and they eventually will be factors in calculating funding for each community college district.

NWC institutional researcher Lisa Smith …

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NWC graduation and persistence rates increasing

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Persistence and graduation rates at Northwest College both increased significantly for the latest years on record, recent reports show.

Those are two of the measures that the Wyoming Community College Commission is tracking in an annual report, and they eventually will be factors in calculating funding for each community college district.

NWC institutional researcher Lisa Smith told the NWC Board of Trustees at its meeting last month that Northwest College’s 61 percent persistence rate for the 2013-14 school year was the best of all seven community college districts in Wyoming, according to a commission report.

The persistent rate measures the percentage of first-time, degree-seeking students who enrolled in Northwest College in the fall term and returned the following fall for at least one credit, she said.  The statewide average was 56.1 percent.

A year earlier, Northwest College’s persistence rate stood at 53.6 percent, and the statewide average was 55.2 percent.

In addition, Northwest’s graduation rate jumped by 11 percentage points. The graduation rate measures the percentage of first-time, full-time, degree-seeking students who completed their degrees within three years from the time they started. For the 2010 cohort (students who started at Northwest in 2010 and completed by 2013), the graduation rate was 26 percent, or fifth out of the state’s seven college districts.

But for the 2011 cohort (students who started in 2011 and graduated in 2014) the graduation rate jumped to 37 percent.

However, Smith said the statewide comparison for the 2011 cohort won’t be available until February; the Community College Commission is using the 2010 cohort for comparison this year, placing NWC fifth and below the state average of 29.9 percent.

The good news here, Smith said, is that, for the previous four cohorts, from 2006-09, Northwest College’s graduation rate was above the state average.

During a discussion with the Powell Tribune last week, Smith said the low graduation rate for the 2010 cohort might have been affected by the improving local economy, which prompted some students to discontinue college to take employment offers, though there is no way to determine that for sure, he said.

NWC President Stefani Hicswa told the NWC Board of Trustees that a Retention Committee was formed three years ago to improve student retention, and thus persistence rates.

Matthew Ewers co-chairs that committee. Ewers provided the following summary of the committee’s efforts.

The Northwest College Retention Committee:

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