Dear Colleague,

Welcome to the first edition of Open AIRE, a new data literacy initiative from KU's Analytics, Institutional Research, & Effectiveness (AIRE) unit. 

The goal of this series of eight newsletters is to provide faculty and staff with an overview of the data lifecycle for key metrics at KU.

Where does data come from? Where is data stored? How is data processed? Where can you access data for analysis and decision making? Open AIRE answers these questions for important data sets, starting with an overview of retention and graduation rates. 

Retention and graduation rates (also called completion rates) are important measures of student success. As key metrics guiding Jayhawks Rising, they help us understand how many students return to KU each year and how long they take to complete their degrees. This data helps university leaders reflect on barriers that may be hindering degree completion and identify the strategies needed to help retain KU students and propel them towards graduation.

Retention and graduation rates are monitored for undergraduate students at key milestones in KU's Student Success Model, led by our Academic Success unit.

Retention and graduation rates are also metrics that KU must provide to several state and federal agencies, including the US Department of Education, which makes national data available via the National Center for Education Statistics website. This lets us compare our numbers with other institutions across the country. 

I hope you enjoy learning about the data lifecycle of key institutional metrics in this Open AIRE series of newsletters.

With very best wishes, 

Corinne Bannon  | Vice Provost of AIRE and Chief Data Officer

Note: This fall, AIRE is transitioning to TDX to manage tickets sent to AIRE-help@ku.edu. Campus users will notice a small change in the appearance of replies to their inquiries, but the process will remain the same.

85%

One-Year Retention Rate (Fall 2022 Cohort)

56%

Four-Year Graduation Rate (Fall 2019 Cohort)

69%

Six-Year Graduation Rate (Fall 2017 Cohort)

These are the current official retention and graduation rates that we provide in mandatory reports to state and federal agencies and make publicly available in the KU Fact Book. These data points are rounded to whole numbers and will be updated again in mid-fall of 2024. 

What do these three numbers tell us? 

- Seventeen out of twenty first-year Jayhawks who entered in 2022 were retained.

- Three out of twenty first-year Jayhawks who entered in 2022 left by year two.

- Eleven out of twenty first-year Jayhawks who entered in 2019 graduated in four years.

- Six out of twenty first-year Jayhawks who entered in 2017 either left KU or took longer than six years to graduate.   

How are these retention and graduation rates defined?

As with all metrics, it's vital to understand how they are defined, who is included, and at what point in time they are calculated.

Retention rates

Retention rates are the percentage of first-time full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students who are enrolled at the 20th day census point of subsequent fall terms relative to their initial fall semester at KU. 

Graduation rates

Graduation rates are the percentage of first-time full-time degree-seeking undergraduate students who complete an undergraduate degree at KU within a specified period of time relative to their initial fall semester at KU.

As you can see, these definitions are very specific. The data lifecycle for retention and graduation rates, outlined below, breaks this down further.

1) Enrollment data is created

Students enroll using Enroll & Pay, KU's student records system.

A system where data is first created is often called a source system. Enroll & Pay, also referred to as PeopleSoft or Campus Solutions, is our primary source system for student data.

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2) Enrollment data is collected and organized

Enrollment data is collected and organized in KU's data warehouse, which holds a large amount of KU data from different sources (student, HR, finance, research). Data in the warehouse can be combined with data from other sources to run analyses.

Enrollment data in the data warehouse is updated on a daily basis. 

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3) Census snapshots are taken 

Students can enroll and unenroll throughout the enrollment period, so KU creates a snapshot of students at key moments through the year.

KU's official enrollment numbers are based on a snapshot taken on the 20th day after classes start each fall, also known as census day.

Students enrolled on the 20th day are grouped into cohorts, allowing the university to monitor the progress of different populations towards their degrees.

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4) Cohorts are identified for retention and graduation rates

For retention and graduation rates, a new cohort of entering students is created each year from the 20th day snapshot of enrolled students. The most commonly available retention and graduation rate data is for first-time full-time undergraduate students.

Defining a retention and graduation cohort: 

Degree-seeking undergraduate student enrolled on the 20th day of classes of the fall semester.

First-time Freshman.

KU's definition of a First-time Freshman.

Full-time.

Undergraduate students enrolled in 12 or more credit hours.

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5) Retention and graduation rates are shared 

Each year, KU's official retention and graduation rates are shared publicly in the KU Fact Book in mid-fall.  

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6) Cohorts are tracked

Once a cohort is established, KU tracks how many students from this original group retain each semester and how long it takes members of the cohort to complete their degree at KU. 

Example: The one-year retention rate for a cohort of students entering in fall 2019 will be the percentage of those specific students who are also enrolled on the 20th day of fall 2020.

Example: The four-year graduation rate for a cohort of students entering in fall 2019 will be the percentage of those specific students who have completed their degree in four years or less, graduating in summer 2023 or earlier. 

You can explore KU's retention and graduation rates further in the KU Fact Book.

Retention and graduation rates in the KU Fact Book start with the fall 2004 cohort and users can apply several filters. 

You can also see this data by federal aid recipient groups. 

If you have any questions about retention and graduation rates, or any other data-related question, please contact AIRE at AIRE-help@ku.edu