1. Efficient & Effective Retention and Graduation Modeling
SCAIR 2006
Ronnie Chrestman and Tina Weaver
Clemson University

2. Why have a cohort table? 1. Eliminates duplication of efforts.
2. Have one verified source of graduation information about a cohort.
3. Answer many questions from one data source.
4. You can change reports by using different criteria using only one table .
We do not try to answer all questions in a cohort report. We just try to have the data readily available to quickly and efficiently produce the information for our clients. This provides a single source of information about a cohort. Over time this table or cohort model has evolved by answering many questions. With only one source of final official information the effort to identify the cohort and all attributes about these students does not have to be duplicated each time a question is asked about these students. By having one table that multiple queries may be run against everyone has the same information readily at their fingers. By changing a single criteria several reports may be run of certain groups of students may be isolated from the cohort to form sub-cohorts.

3. What type of questions are asked and answered about a cohort?
Distribution of cohort by :
Gender
Ethnic Group
Residency
High School
Entering Major
Athletic Status and Sport
State Scholarship
The demographic distribution of a cohort is always of interest. We receive many questions each fall about the new entering class. These questions include, but are not limited to the distribution by gender, ethnic group, or in vs. out-of state. Which high schools provided the most students? How many LIFE scholars and Palmetto Fellows did we have? What percent of the entering freshmen had a state scholarship? These are just a few of the initial questions that are asked.

4. What other questions are asked and answered about a cohort?
Mean SAT Score
Retention
Year to Year
State Scholarship Retention
Retention within Major or College
Graduation Rates
How many times are institutions asked about the average SAT Score? The SAT values in this table are the same ones that are submitted to the Commission on Higher Education in SC (CHE). We also track fall to fall retention and State scholarship retention. We not changes in major both between colleges and within colleges. The final piece is graduation rate. In this table, if a student receives multiple undergraduate degrees, the first degree is used. If two degrees are awarded at the same time, then the degree of the original major is used. If neither degree is the original major, then the degree within the original college is used.

5. Who ask questions? Legislators University Administration
Public Relations & Development
Colleges
Deans
Department Chairs
Athletics
Student Life
Greek Affiliation
Housing
Recently we have been asked questions about specific ethnic groups within specific groups of majors by our lobbyist for Senator Lindsey Graham. We also get specific questions from upper level administration about graduation rates. With these coming from the President, Provost and other Vice Presidents. Deans and Department chairs are also interested in their specific areas. For these questions, we are able to run specific reports. We cannot run every scenario for the report due to the overall size of the report and the small cell sizes. If a department chair asked for the students in his department by major, gender and ethnic group, it would generate a report of two or three pages. If that is multiplied by 50 departments, then the report cannot be picked up. However, we can and will and do provide the information upon request.
Public Relations and Development often need a blurb for a article about a department or a specific group of students. The cohort report or table often provides this bit of data. Sometimes it is used and other times if the news is not as good as expected, then it is not utilized. In other words, if the news is good use it, if the news is not good then act as if it is not available. Big difference between PR and IR.
Some of you have to deal with the NCAA and report on student athletes. This is very sensitive due to the small number of student athletes that enter each fall. However, we do provide this information to the NCAA, IPEDS, and our athletic department. With some coaches bonuses tied to graduation rates of their athletes this becomes a data set of great interest. If a student athlete is included in the official squad list during their first fall at the university they are always identified as a student athlete. If they receive any type of athletics aid, then they are a scholarship athlete, otherwise they are non-scholarship.
Lately, we have been working with members of our Student Life groups. We are starting to track students who are members of Greek organizations. We do not do this for other organizations since we cannot get official rosters or those organizations. However, the Greek organizations do submit rosters to a national office and there fore we get the rosters. This work is just beginning for the cohort studies, but we have been producing grade reports for about three or four years for the Greek Life office.

6. Define Cohort
A group of subjects, most often humans from a given population
Defined by a condition that may be:
Ethnic Group
Gender
Origin
Geographic
High School
Organization
College Entrance Date
A cohort is defined as a group of subjects that are studied over a long period of time. The population is closed, meaning that it is neither added to or subtracted from. Specific conditions can be used to define a cohort. These may include ethnic group, gender, or origin. In the case of a undergraduate cohort origin may be either geographic such as county, state, or country. It may also be high school. Organizations such as Greek affiliation or athletic status are also used. However, in this case, the first time college freshmen for a specific fall is the overall characteristic that defines the cohort and the other characteristics define sub-cohorts.

7. Cohort Study
Tracks a cohort or population over extended periods of time
Keeps the same initial population without additions or subtractions
Makes observations about:
Population Distributions
Retention
Graduation
Study has a predetermined time frame (6 years)
Cohort studies track students over an extended period of time. The initial population is not altered. Students are only removed when they become deceased. Reports about population distributions, retention and graduation are produced. Cohort studies cover a six year period.

8. Criteria for Inclusion in a Cohort
First Time Full Time College Freshmen
Enroll Fall Semester
Not previously enrolled at another institution
Enrolled in at least 12 semester hours
Degree seeking
To be included in the cohort a student must be enrolled full time during the first fall at the institution, not previously enrolled at another institution, and degree seeking.

9. Information Types Student Identification Demographic Data
Admissions Data
Financial Aid
Academic Career
Graduation Information

10. Identification Data Unique Student Identifier Student Name
Social Security Number
Institution Identification Number
Student Name
Include in Cohort
Yes
No (Deceased)
Unique student identifier. We use Clemson University Identification Number or CUID. We also keep the SSN for submission to CHE and the NCAA, so that they can track students who do not return to our institution but go to other institutions. We keep the Student name and a flag that identifies if the student is to be kept in the cohort or removed.

11. Demographic Data Gender Race Code & Ethnic Description Date of Birth
Country
State Abbreviation and Name
County Code and Name
High School Code and Translation
We put in the codes for these characteristics, but also add the translation or description so that conversion tables are not needed. This eliminates the need for multiple tables in a query and also speeds up the reporting process. This data is extracted from files that are sent to CHE.

12. Admissions Data SAT Score Legacy Status
Verbal
Math
Total
Legacy Status
Entering College Code and Translation
Entering Major Code and Description
First Year Predicted Grade Point Ratio
This data is extracted from data sets we obtain from the Office of Admissions. Here we know what program the student originally entered into and also have the students SAT scores and first year predicted grade point ratio. Over time the PGPR is accurate for the group as a whole, but is not as accurate for an individual. Since some individuals apply themselves more and perform a a greater level that predicted. It also does not take in to account the initial major. Since some areas require more demanding courses during the first year than other majors.

13. Financial Aid Data State Scholarship Recipient Athletic Scholarship
LIFE
Palmetto Fellows
Athletic Scholarship
Loans
University Scholarships
National Scholars
From Financial Aid, we obtain scholarship data, loan information, and information on National Scholars. We have been asked questions about debt of graduates. We are in the process of going back and adding this information to previous cohorts and current cohorts for future analysis

14. Graduation Data Graduation Year Graduation Term Time to Graduate
4 Years
5 Years
6 Years
Graduation College and Major
Students in the 1999 cohort who graduated in either May or August of 2003 are considered to have graduated in 4 years. However, students who graduated in December of 2003 were considered to have graduated in 4.5 years and thus are part of the 5-year graduation rate and not the 4 year graduation rate.

15. Academic Career Data Actual First Year Grade Point Ratio
First Declared Major
Engineering Majors Enter as General Engineering and later change to a specific Engineering Discipline
Major Changes
Number of changes
Changes between Colleges or Majors within a College
Fall to Fall Retention
We also track the academic career of a cohort of students. This provides a specific population of students study and draw conclusions about.

16. Evolution of the Cohort Table
1994 Cohort contained less than 20 fields
1999 Cohort contained over 40 fields
2000 Cohort ????
Why the increase?
More questions
Availability of more data
Special interest groups
Athletics
Greek Organizations
More questions, availability of more data, special interest groups.

17. Cohort Data Sources CHEMIS Student Enroll Files Admissions Records
Financial Aid Records
NCAA Squad List
Student Information System
CHEMIS Graduation File

18. Cohort Reports Graduation Rates by: College Entering Major
Gender and Ethnic Group
Athletic Status
South Carolina County
State
State Scholarship Recipient

19. Report Information Presented
Graduation Rates for Students NOT changing majors
4, 5 and 6-year Rates
Number of Graduates NOT changing majors
4, 5, and 6 Year counts
Graduation rates by graduating college for students changing majors
6-year rate
Total number of graduates by sub cohort group
Total 6-year graduation rate for sub cohort group

20. External Reporting IPEDS NCAA
CSRDE (Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange)
US News

21. Internal Reports Annual Undergraduate Cohort Report Mini Fact Book
President’s Report Card