First-Year Retention:
Retention Rates - First-Time College Freshmen Returning Their Second Year

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Freshmen to Sophomore Retention Rates Calculation IPEDS fall full-time retention rates are reported by institution and reflect previous fall first-time full-time undergraduates who return as either full- time or part-time students this fall. Fall full- time retention rates are determined for each state by calculating a weighted average based on each reporting institutions previous fall first-time full-time undergraduate enrollment. IPEDS fall part-time retention rates are reported by institution and reflect previous fall first-time part-time undergraduates who return as either full-time or part-time students in current fall. Fall part-time retention rates are determined for each state by calculating a weighted average based on each reporting institutions previous fall first-time part-time undergraduate enrollment. Fall overall retention rates are calculated for each state using the state calculated full-time and part-time retention rates. The full-time and part-time retention rates are weighted by their respective previous fall first-time full-time and first-time part-time enrollments and averaged to obtain an overall retention rate. The above is a description of the data. The same procedure is used for data from earlier or more recent years. Sources/Links NCES, IPEDS 2015 Institutional Characteristics File; hd2015. NCES, IPEDS 20xx Enrollment Retention Rate File; ef20xxd NCES, IPEDS Fall 20xx Enrollment File; ef20xxa NCES, IPEDS Fall 20xx Enrollment File; ef20xxa (used in retention rate calculations). The following institutions (mainly online) that skew state results are excluded from their states figures but included in the National total: 106102 (Western International University, Arizona), 372213 (University of Phoenix Online, Arizona through 2013), 484613 (University of Phoenix, Arizona Starting in 2014), 154022 (Ashford University, Iowa - California starting 2014), 260901 (Kaplan University, Iowa), 444158 (Colorado Technical University Online, Colorado), 449339 (American Public University, West Virginia). DC is included in the National Total. http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/