ARKADELPHIA -- College retention and graduation rates continue to improve in the state, according to data presented Thursday during a meeting of the state's Higher Education Coordinating Board at Henderson State University.
The fall-to-fall retention rate for students who enrolled in the fall of 2021 at the state's public colleges and universities was the highest in five years -- perhaps the result of "a small recovery from the COVID" pandemic -- 2% higher than the fall 2019 cohort, which was the second-best at 70.6%, said Sonia Hazelwood, assistant director and chief data officer for the Arkansas Division of Higher Education.
For four-year schools, the fall 2021 cohort's retention rate of 77.3% was the best in five years, and the two-year schools' retention rate of 61.3% was the first mark over 60% in at least five years.
"The retention calculations are based on students in the fall term cohort of first-time entering, full-time, and credential-seeking students who returned the fall term of the next academic year," which would be the fall of 2022 for the fall 2021 cohort, according to Hazelwood.
For four-year universities, only those students seeking a bachelor's degree are included, while students who completed a credential by the next fall are included as part of the retention rate for two-year institutions.
The four-year university with the best fall-to-fall retention rate for the fall 2021 cohort was the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, at 85.6%, while Henderson State University had the lowest, at 57.2%, according to the Higher Education division. UA-Fayetteville also led the way for on-time graduation rate, at 55.7%, for its fall 2018 cohort, while the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff had the lowest rate among public four-year schools, at 22%.
The four-year graduation rate for public, state schools continued to tick up from prior years with the 2018 cohort, at 41.7%, nearly 5% better than the fall 2015 cohort, according to the Higher Education division. The six-year graduation rate also inched upward, at 52.7%, up 0.6% from the fall 2015 cohort and up 3.5% from the fall 2013 cohort.
UA-Fayetteville also had the best six-year graduation rate among public four-year schools, at 69.2%, according to the higher education agency. The University of Arkansas at Monticello had the lowest, at 26%.
For two-year schools, the University of Arkansas Community College at Rich Mountain reported the highest on-time graduation rate with the most recent cohort, fall 2020, at nearly 48%, far outpacing the others, as the second-best rate was Arkansas State University Mid-South's 30.8%, according to the division's report. South Arkansas Community College in El Dorado finished at the bottom of this metric, with 5.3% of its associate-degree seeking students from the fall 2020 cohort obtaining that degree in two years.
The four-year and six-year graduation rates for private/independent colleges both fell from previous years with the most recent cohorts, at 42.2% and 56.7%, respectively, Hazelwood said. The four-year rate was actually down 5% from the prior year, which may be related to the pandemic.
STUDENT-ATHLETES
In the 2021-2022 academic year, 4,132 students participated in athletics at 10 universities and eight two-year colleges, the most student-athletes ever reported for an academic year -- schools continue to add athletic programs, especially two-year colleges -- and an increase of 243 student-athletes over the prior year, according to Hazelwood. The number of student-athletes participating in football leads the way with 918 reported for the 2021-2022 academic year, while baseball had the largest increase in participation year to year.
Nearly two-thirds of student athletes received a partial scholarship for sports for the 2021-2022 academic year, but only 13.6% received a full scholarship, according to Hazelwood. UA-Fayetteville had the most student-athletes that year, with 513, while the University of Central Arkansas was second, with 488.
"Athletes are retained at higher rates than non-athlete students due to the commitment to -- and interest in -- participating in college athletics," according to Hazelwood. "Also, a correlation may be made between participation and the impact of support services many institutions provide."
While retention rates are better for student-athletes, four-year graduation results are mixed, with some schools reporting higher graduation rates for student-athletes than those who don't play sports, and others lower, for the fall 2018 cohort. The four-year graduation rate for student-athletes was significantly higher at University of Central Arkansas (by about 10%), UAPB (by nearly 10%), and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (by about 20 points), and slightly better at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and HSU, while it was lower for non-student-athletes at UA-Fayetteville, Arkansas State University, UA-Monticello, Southern Arkansas University, and Arkansas Tech.
Nearly all four-year public schools reported better six-year graduation rates for student-athletes in the fall 2016 cohort than non-student-athletes, however, with only UA-Fayetteville having a lower rate, according to the Higher Education division. The six-year graduation rate for student-athletes at A-State was about 17 points higher than non-student-athletes, and UCA, UAPB, UALR, and UA-Monticello had similar disparities.
However, with more student-athletes transferring than ever before, graduation and retention rates may be impacted in the future, Hazelwood said. "The transfer portal had added a new set of issues" to tracking this data, and it'll be "very interesting to see" the results.
REMEDIATION
In the fall of 2022, 22,213 first-time entering, degree-seeking students enrolled in an Arkansas public institution of higher education, and 35% required remedial coursework, according to Mason Campbell, the Higher Education division's chief academic officer. However, 96% of them successfully completed remediation course work on the first attempt.
While high school GPA has traditionally been a key predictor of college success, 64% of these students who required remediation had high school GPAs of 3.0 or better, Campbell said. That requires more research, as there may be grade inflation, or it's possible not all students placed into remediation need to be.
That 64% figure "jumps off the page to me," said coordinating board member Al Brodell. It's "startling."
Math is overwhelmingly the area in which students are deemed in need of remediation, Campbell said. "We remain confident" in high school GPA as a predictor of college success, but utilizing multiple metrics is likely better than relying on one alone.
"Each institution establishes a matrix of assessment measures to evaluate the preparedness or readiness of students for gateway courses in English, math, and reading," and measures for establishing student readiness may include one or more of the following: ACT scores, other standardized exams, high school academic performance, assessment of student motivation to succeed, writing samples (English), or other measures supported by sufficient analysis of predicted student success, according to Campbell. "A student's placement in freshman-level gateway courses should be strong enough to indicate potential for success at a 'C' or better. ACT benchmarks establish a subject test score of 22 for reading or math and a subject test score of 18 for English as cutoff scores for student success. Institutions are allowed to use more than one measure if the ACT or ACT-equivalent is below 22 to ensure that students are placed at the appropriate course level."
Graycen Bigger, vice chairperson of the coordinating board, is not surprised at the need of remediation, especially in math, and she fears the problem may get worse before it gets better, because so many K-12 students were forced into virtual learning during the pandemic, and math has proved to be especially challenging to learn remotely.
It's important to note that the vast preponderance of students taking remedial college courses are taking them alongside their expected "gateway" courses, so they're not falling behind schedule for graduation, said Tina Moore, ADHE director of workforce development. This is a relatively recent change in Arkansas higher education, as the erstwhile model -- forcing students to take one or more remedial courses before starting on track toward graduation -- discouraged students and cost them more money.
Nevertheless, the state's remediation figures remain "unacceptable," Moore said. "We need to do something about it."
And changes are being made, as this is "not just a higher education problem," she said. "This is a K-12 root cause we have to work together" to rectify.
The state is working to scale math classes to students prior to college so they're better prepared, she said. "We're also doing away with less rigorous" high school math classes.
The state is also rewriting state math standards to better build foundational fundamentals, said Jacob Oliva, secretary of the state Department of Education. "There has been more focus on teaching strategies than skills, [but] we're going to focus on teaching multiple strategies [so students can use] the best one for them."
His department will also work with colleges and universities because "we want to hear from professors what is missing" in students entering college, he said. "That remediation needs to happen before college."
He wants to get more students into advanced math earlier, he added. "I look at [this] as an opportunity, [but] we need to act with urgency."
Students who graduated high school within the previous year (2022) and enrolled as a first-time entering undergraduate are categorized under the first-year rate, according to Campbell. In the fall of 2022, there were 19,550 students that fell under the first-year rate, 34% of whom required remediation.
Students who graduated high school the prior year and enrolled as "first-time entering undergraduates are categorized under the second-year rate," according to Campbell. Last fall, there were 1,010 students in that category, 48% of whom required remediation.
"Students who enrolled as a first-time entering undergraduate with their high school date being ignored are categorized under the Anytime Rate," according to Campbell. There were 1,653 students under this designation who enrolled last fall, and 40% of them required remediation.