1. KCTCS Strategic Plan 2016-2022 Update: Retention and graduation rates
Board of Regents
March 2019

2. Metric Updates Board of Regents Update Performance Metric June
Transfer
September
Workforce Credit Hour Conversion
Student Engagement (In even years only)
December
Graduation Rate (Total)
Graduation Rate (Underrepresented Minority)
Experiential Learning
Licensure/Certification
March
Retention Rate (Total)
Retention Rate (Underrepresented Minority)
Affordability

3. Measure: Graduation Rate Measure: Affordability
Goal #1
Goal: Raise the level of educational attainment in the Commonwealth by positioning KCTCS as the accessible, affordable, and relevant postsecondary education choice for Kentuckians.
Measure: Graduation Rate
Metric
Definition
Baseline
Target
Objective
Graduation Rate
Cohort of full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students who complete their program within 150% of normal time as reported to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).
25.7% 
31.5%
Increase graduation rate by 1.0 percentage points each year.
Measure: Affordability
Affordability
KCTCS net price as a percentage of the weighted net price for students paying the in-state or in-district tuition rate & receiving grant or scholarship aid at Kentucky public four-year colleges.
54.0%
50.0%
Achieve and maintain a net price equal to or less than half that of public four-year institutions.

4. Measure: Retention - URM Measure: Graduation Rate - URM
Goal #2
Goal: Increase access and success for all KCTCS students, particularly among traditionally underserved populations.
Measure: Retention - URM
Metric
Definition
Baseline
Target
Objective
1st to 2nd Year Retention – URM
Fall-to-fall retention rates of first-time, credential-seeking students by Underrepresented Minorities (URM) (American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Two or More Races).
39.4%
45.4%
Increase URM retention rate by 1.0 percentage points each year.
Measure: Graduation Rate - URM
Graduation Rate - URM
Cohort of full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students who complete their program within 150% of normal time as reported to IPEDS limited to Underrepresented Minorities.
14.3%
20.1%
Increase URM graduation rate by 1.0 percentage points each year.

5. Measure: Student Engagement
Goal #4
Goal: Improve student engagement, support, experiences, and success with best-in-class academic and student services.
Measure: Retention
Metric
Definition
Baseline
Target
Objective
Retention
Fall-to-fall retention rates of first-time, credential-seeking students as reported to IPEDS.
49.4%
55.4%
Increase retention by an average of 1.0 percentage points each year.
Measure: Student Engagement
Student Engagement
Average scores on the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) benchmarks of effective educational practice.
Active Learning (47.2%)
Student Effort (50.6%)
Academic Challenge (49.1%)
Student / Faculty Interaction (52.3%)
Support for Learners (51.2%) 
50.0%
Maintain CCSSE average benchmark scores at or above the national average.

6. Retention RATE

7. Fall 2017 cohort – Enrollment by Type
Retention Rate Total :
Fall 2017 cohort – Enrollment by Type
First-Time,
Credential Seeking
5.0%
10.3%
First-time Credential-Seeking Cohort: 11,852
FT = 7,996 | PT = 3,856
Total student count: 77,680

8. Fall 2017 cohort – Enrollment by Type
Retention Rates URM:
Fall 2017 cohort – Enrollment by Type
First-Time,
Credential Seeking
9.3%
10.4%
URM:
First-time Credential-Seeking Cohort: 2,344
Total student count: 11,932
First-time Credential-Seeking Cohort: 2,344
FT = 1,235 | PT = 1,109
Total student count: 11,932

9. Retention Rate Total TARGET CPE Strategic Agenda Final year of
Source: Official Data as reported to IPEDS
Objective: Increase retention by an average of 1.0 percentage points each year.
Definition: Fall-to-fall retention rates of first-time, credential-seeking students as reported to IPEDS.
Low-income rate: Fall 2017 to Fall 2018 – 53.1
Underprepared retention rates: Fall 2017 to Fall 2018 – Not Ready 47.1%
National average in the baseline year: 54.2%
Note missing year for so chart can show five years plus final year goals

10. Retention Rate URM TARGET CPE Strategic Agenda Final year of
Source: Official Data as reported to IPEDS.
Objective: Increase URM retention rate by 1.0 percentage points each year.
Definition: Fall-to-fall retention rates of first-time, credential-seeking students by Underrepresented Minorities (American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Two or More Races).
Increasing objective by 1.5 percentage points per year is off by 0.1 percentage points from CPE Strategic Agenda. Actually 1.48 percentage points. Fall 2015 to 2016 target would increase from 40.4% to 40.9%. Would align with CPE’s target of 46.8% in the Fall 2019 to Fall 2020 period.
Note missing year for so chart can show five years plus final year goals

11. RETENTion Rate – Closing the gap
TOTAL
GAP
URM

12. prior year comparison Fall 2016 to Fall 2017
Retention Rate Total
prior year comparison Fall 2016 to Fall 2017
National
55.4%
56.6%
54.3%
SREB States: AL, AR, DE, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV
National average in the baseline year: 54.2%

13. by Credit Hours Attempted
Retention Rate Total
by Credit Hours Attempted
Credit Hours Attempted
Retained
Cohort
% Retained
% of Cohort
<6.0
193
573
33.7%
4.8%
649
1,623
40.0%
13.7%
722
1,660
43.5%
14.0%
3,195
5,595
57.1%
47.2%
15.0+
1,553
2,401
64.7%
20.3%
Total
6,312
11,845
53.3%
100.0%
This group does not include IPEDS exclusions. Used Type2 data for F17 to create CrdHr bins

14. Retention Rate URM by Credit Hours Attempted
Retained
Cohort
% Retained
% of Cohort
<6.0 37
136
27.2%
5.8%
193
508
38.0%
21.7%
181
465
38.9%
19.8%
518
977
53.0%
41.7%
15.0+
135
257
52.5%
11.0%
Total
1,064
2,343
45.4%
100.0%
This group does not include IPEDS exclusions. Used Type2 data for F17 to create CrdHr bins

15. Retention Rates URM by college
URM cohort
# Retained
% URM Retained
% Retained
Total Cohort
Gap
URM vs. Total
Ashland 19 7
36.8%
56.2%
-19.4%
Big Sandy 21 9
42.9%
55.7%
-12.8%
Bluegrass
472
204
43.2%
51.8%
-8.5%
Elizabethtown
195 77
39.5%
50.8%
-11.3%
Gateway
100 47
47.0%
53.3%
-6.3%
Hazard 14 8
57.1%
52.6%
4.5%
Henderson 64 26
40.6%
48.1%
-7.4%
Hopkinsville 94 36
38.3%
49.5%
-11.2%
Jefferson
916
423
46.2%
48.9%
-2.7%
Madisonville 59 29
49.2%
56.9%
-7.7%
Maysville 33 17
51.5%
56.1%
-4.6%
Owensboro 52 27
51.9%
57.3%
-5.4%
Somerset 51
52.9%
51.3%
1.6%
Southcentral KY 74
48.6%
-8.4%
Southeast KY 18
38.9%
59.0%
-20.1%
West KY
162 84
62.5%
-10.6%
KCTCS
2344
1064
45.4%
-7.9%

16. Contributing factors for retention
Persistence Predictors for KCTCS Credential-Seeking Students: Spring 2019 to Fall 2019
GPA (Prior Term) 2.25+
Average Number of Sections Attempted
Average Number of Days Enrolled
Per Term (Prior Year) 2.3+
Before Start (Current Term) 45+
Term GPA Standard Deviation (Prior Year)
On-ground Credits Attempted (Current
Less than 0.7= higher persistence
Term) 4+
Online GPA (Cumulative) 2.7+
Program Major
Max ACT Math Score 17+
Credits Earned Ratio (Cumulative) 0.7+
CIP code: Tech programs do slightly better, but there is not a lot of variance. Nursing, computer science – higher. Liberal arts/sciences, business – lower.
Credits earned ratio: Cumulative ratio of credits earned to credits attempted. Students who have earned all the credits they attempted have a ratio of 1.
Sections attempted: includes all sections a student was enrolled in past add/drop date.
Term GPA std deviation: Term to term GPA variation across the previous year. The higher the std dev the more variation in GPA.
Term season: Fall, Spring, or Summer.
Source: Civitas Illume

17. Graduation Rate

18. Graduation Rate Total TARGET CPE Strategic Agenda Final year of
Source: Official data as reported to IPEDS
Objective: Increase graduation rate by 1.0 percentage points each year.
Definition: full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students who complete their program within 150% of normal time as reported to IPEDS.
Note missing year for so chart can show five years plus final year goals

19. Graduation Rate URM TARGET CPE Strategic Agenda Final year of
Source: Official data as reported to IPEDS
Objective: Increase URM graduation rate by 1.0 percentage points each year.
Definition: Cohort of full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students who complete their program within 150% of normal time as reported to IPEDS limited to Underrepresented Minorities (American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Two or More Races).
target would increase from 15.1% to 16.9%. Would align with CPE’s target of 22.5 in the AY.
Note missing year for so chart can show five years plus final year goals

20. Graduation Rate – Closing the gap
TOTAL
GAP
URM
Objective: Increase URM retention rate by 1.0 percentage point each year. Original target was to close the gap compared to the total retention rate (85% of total goal). Updated target would close gap to 7.6 percentage points.
Source: Official Data as reported to IPEDS.
Definition: Fall-to-fall retention rates of first-time, credential-seeking students by Underrepresented Minorities (American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Two or More Races).

21. Prior Year Comparison 2016-17
Graduation Rate Total
Prior Year Comparison
National
26.7%
27.1%
26.5%
Objective: Increase URM graduation rate by 1.0 percentage point each year.
Source: KCTCS 2014 Cohort graduating by Summer 2017, SREB 2013 Cohort graduating by Summer 2016, and National 2013 Cohort includes 986 colleges including Kentucky Public Two-Year Colleges
SREB States: AL, AR, DE, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV

22. prior year Comparison 2015-16
Graduation Rate URM
prior year Comparison
National
21.0%
17.2%
22.0%
Objective: Increase URM graduation rate by 1.0 percentage point each year.
Source:
SREB States: AL, AR, DE, FL, GA, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV

23. Earning a strong GPA early on Opportunity to gain job prospects
Completing more credits in the first
or advance in their current job
year
Flexible degree programs (online,
Good high school GPA
shorter length)
Maintaining full-time enrollment
Availability of services (advising,
Earning college credits while still in
financial aid) after work hours
high school
Career focus - return on investment
Credit for prior learning
Assistance with child care, housing
costs
Source: Center for Policy Research and Strategy, American Council on Education

24. Persistence Rate – Three Year Outcomes for 2014 Cohort
Total Three-Year Persistence Rate – 51.9%