While overall persistence and retention rates have remained relatively flat among community college students who entered in fall 2023, the rates for older learners show big drops, according to a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
Fall 2024 enrollments for two-year students who entered college in fall 2023 declined by 0.4 percentage points, dropping from 62.9% to 62.5%. It marked the first dip after a slight rebound over the past couple of years following declines during the Covid pandemic, the data show.
Full- and part-time public two-year college students also saw slight decreases, from 71.5% to 71.1% among full-time students, and 51.6% to 51.4% among part-time students. Again, the flattening follows steady increases following Covid.
Also, the center for the first time reported persistence and retention rates for students returning the spring after first enrolling in fall 2023.
“We’ve been focused on second fall persistence for years, but that’s too long to wait for many institutions, who seek earlier indicators of student success,” Doug Shapiro, the center’s executive director, said in a release, adding that the information will help colleges focus on supporting students who are at risk sooner. “This is especially important for part-time students, older students and those who start at community colleges, where first spring persistence rates are lower.”
For community colleges, that “first spring” persistence rate was unchanged at 75.5%, following a similar post-Covid pattern as with second fall rates. For full-time community college students, it ticked up from 83.9% to 84%, and for part-time two-year students it ticked down from 65.5% to 65.3%.
Among primarily associate-degree-granting baccalaureate institutions (PABs), overall second fall persistence rates dipped slightly more than at community colleges — 1 percentage point, from 65.3% to 64.3%. Full-time PAB students’ persistence declined from 72.8% to 72.4%, while part-time students saw a slightly deeper decline, from 55.8% to 54.9%.
For its first spring persistence rate, PABs saw slight increases (from 78.4% to 78.7%), as well as increases among part-time and full-time students, 85.4% to 86.4%, and 69.6% to 70%, respectively.
Retention flat for first spring
Second fall retention rates dipped slightly for cohort 2023 community college students. (Retention rates capture continued enrollment at the student’s starting institution. Persistence refers to continued enrollment in college, whether at the same or a different institution.)
Overall, it declined from 55.5% to 55.1%. For full-time students, it went from 63.6% to 63.2%; for part-timers, it edged from 45.9% to 45.7%.
For first spring retention, community colleges saw flat rates. They followed a similar post-Covid pattern, with the overall retention rates holding at 72.6%. Part-time students held at 63.1% and full-time students saw a slight boost, from 81% to 81.1%.
PABs had similar first spring retention rate patterns for the 2023 cohort. All students saw a percentage-point decline from 74.9% to 74.8%. Full-time students saw an increase from 81.7% to 82.2%, while part-time students saw an increase from 66.9% to 67.1%.
Big drops for older students
Not surprisingly, younger students — among all institutions, including community colleges — continued to persist and be retained at higher rates. However, rates among older students at public two-year colleges in both the first spring and second fall terms — which have steadily declined after Covid — saw significant drops in the 2023 cohort.
Second fall persistence rates among all associate-degree seekers ages 20 and younger at community colleges increased from 67.3% to 67.8%. Among those ages 21 to 24, it jumped from 50.8% to 52.4%. Students 25 and older saw a rate drop from 47.3% to 43.6% — a 3.7 percentage-point drop.
Second fall retention rates for community college students followed the same course, with slight increases for younger students and big drops for older students (down from 44.4% to 40.9%).
First spring persistence and retention rates had similar patterns. Older learns in the 2023 cohort saw a drop in persistence from 63.8% to 58.8% — a 5 percentage-point drop. For first spring retention rates, their rate dropped almost the same, from 62.4% to 57.5%.
PABs saw similar patterns, though their decreases among older learners were deeper. The second fall persistence rate tanked 7 percentage points, to 41.2%, and the retention rate dove 6.5 percentage points to 38.7%. The first spring persistence rate plunged 7 percentage points to 57.1%, and the first spring retention rate dropped 7.1 percentage points to 55.8%.
A look at majors
Most of the top 10 associate degree major fields saw declines in second fall persistence, with psychology and security and protective services seeing the largest drops, according to the center. Only engineering technologies/technicians and liberal arts saw gains compared to rates for the fall 2022 cohort.
The report noted that among starters pursuing undergraduate certificates, trade-related programs had the highest second fall persistence rates, led by mechanic and repair technologies, precision production, construction trades, personal and culinary services, and business. However, except for construction trades, students who entered these programs in fall 2023 persisted at lower rates than their fall counterparts, the center said.
