As enrollment numbers have continued to increase, efforts to increase student retention have also intensified. The current First Year Experience focuses on student engagement, an Early Alert academic warning system was put into place, and the a joint Academic- Student Development CARE Team approach to early intervention when student issues arise has been implemented. As a result of these efforts, retention results are improving.
The other element in this first UNIVERSAL MEASURE of student achievement is the GRADUATION rates over the past five years (tracking FTFT freshmen cohorts earning degrees in the years listed here include the following information percentages, based on data submitted to IPEDS, as well as additional information from the University Admissions and Registrar’s Offices:
* IPEDS-Reported Data
The University’s graduation BENCHMARK is a five-year rolling average. The University considers this an appropriate for the following reasons:
- The University Retention Rate is improving, with a benchmark to improve it even more.
- The University enjoys an Articulation Agreement with the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), from which a significant number of Brescia students are drawn. During the six (6) years above that contain IPEDS data, the following numbers and percentages confirm this:
- 150 FTFT cohort students (of 381 who began) graduated with six (6) years of entering Brescia.
- Approximately 231 transfer students graduated during the same span of time.
- Transfer students made up approximately a 60% average of Brescia University graduates during this time span.
- The following chart provides specific numbers of Brescia University students receiving baccalaureate degrees over the past nine (9) years, beginning with 2007 when the first cohort group (2003) could have graduated:
^ Anticipated to Graduate May 2015
- Finally, the University offers a number of pre-professional programs (engineering and some pre-medical programs) that do not terminate in a Brescia-conferred degree; however, these students go on either to complete their baccalaureate at a more professional school and/or earn advanced degrees at other institutions. Since they received their prerequisites at Brescia that made this success possible, the University values and “counts” these students even though their numbers are not part of IPEDS data.