On Thursday, April 2, Carleton administrators hosted an open meeting on student progress and retention at the Weitz Center for Creativity. Presenters shared quantitative and qualitative data analyses of graduation and retention rates with a focus on the low-income and first-generation student population.
Assistant Vice President for Institutional Research and Assessment Makiko Imamura presented data on retention and graduation rates as well as current efforts to identify areas where the college could improve. Vice President of Inclusion, Equity and Community Dina Zavala and Physics Professor Melissa Eblen-Zayas shared takeaways from a first-generation report. The report is being used to inform the First at Carleton Initiative, a fund to help first-generation students acclimate to Carleton and college life.
“Institutional Research and Assessment is typically responsible for engaging both the campus stakeholders and community members to understand longitudinally tracking of how students are progressing, advancing and graduating,” said Imamura.
Imamura noted a trend in the time it takes students to graduate, which has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think what was surprising was that generally, after COVID, we haven’t —- not just us, but generally higher [education] in general — we haven’t recovered fully to make sure that the students are graduating within four years,” she said. “The trend is shifting from college used to be a four-year commitment and investment to more like a five-year and six-year commitment, and even the ways in which that in the space of federal reporting when we talk about graduation rates [and] outcomes. So in ranking colleges, we anchor on six-year graduation rates.”
All speakers touched on challenges that low-income students face, including their graduation rates, finding support on campus and navigating the college landscape.
“We were really concerned when you see the four-year graduation rates of first-gen students, those really are significantly below those of continuing generation students,” said Eblen-Zayas.
Because of these concerns, the researchers made sure to study how Pell grant recipients are faring Carleton and hope that data will inform future efforts to provide support.
“It is pretty much the national trend, as you can see, even just visually, that the non-Pell group seems to tend to perform higher in six-year graduation rates than the Pell group,” said Imamura. “The Pell group has a lower six-year grad rate than the non-Pell group. So that also kind of signals to us that we should attend to what might be happening. And part of it is also what is happening internally, but also to really expand our economic horizon, to see what other schools are doing, what policies there might be.” Pell group refers to low-income students who receive Pell grants, need-based educational aid from the federal government.
Retention rates were also analyzed in the data for both first-generation and continuing generation college students.
“The retention of first-gen students from the first year to the second year meets or exceeds the retention of continuing generation students,” said Eblen-Zayas.
“Five percent is the average of our attrition in the first year. So that’s sort of one dip, and we have been exploring the reasons why they may go, so more probably would come out of some more analysis,” said Imamura.
Attendees who work with students found ways to apply the data to their own observations and experiences.
“I was confirmed in my suspicion that we have a big dip in [years] one to two and three to four, which are the most stressful times (in my opinion) on campus,” said Juliane Schicker, Chair of the German and Russian Department. “Some of my advisees come into Carleton thinking that they don’t have to go the liberal arts path and that might contribute to students transferring or struggling to graduate within the system they are given.”
The speakers also used qualitative data, focusing on student experiences to analyze the experiences of first-generation and low-income students and assess how Carleton has contributed to supported them in their education.
“Belonging is one of the other pieces where first-generation [students] talk about that lack of belonging, feeling like they don’t have a place on campuses,” said Zavala.
The researchers collected data on various aspects of the experiences of first-generation and low-income students.
“We also found that the first-year GPA of first-gen students is not significantly different from that of continuing generation students. If you actually look at the number, it’s a little bit lower, but not at a level that is statistically meaningful,” said Eblen-Zayas. “We also tried to analyze all of these different efforts that are supporting first-gen students. And in this, we were particularly interested in efforts where there is dedicated faculty or staff support.”
No two first-generation experiences are the same, which is why the researchers sought to include diverse experiences in their report.
“One of the things that’s interesting is that in any given year, one-third to one-half of the first-gen students are not in any cohort program. Now the flip side is there are some first-gen students who are in three or four cohort programs,” she continued. “There was also definitely a sense that liberal arts advising and major advising could benefit from some rethinking.”
The presenters used comparative data to contextualize their findings, allowing them to see how Carleton is doing relative to peer institutions, which were determined by a U.S. News report.
“Comparison is important because we always want to make sure that we are looking around and adopting best practice and bringing in the best of all of our abilities,” said Imamura.
Attendees from different campus offices were able to reflect on how the data could inform their work and how they assist students.
“I think there was some, you know, really good comparison data to peer schools, which is always good to see,” said Ann Koller, Assistant Director for Alumni and Parent Engagement at the Career Center, who attended the event. “‘I’ve worked at different institutions where retention and graduation are not as high as Carleton’s, so I think it could be easy for Carlton to say ‘we have, you know, statistically really high, high rates, thumbs up to us.’ But I really liked that they were highlighting areas where they could still make improvements, because you can think of it in terms of numbers, but every number is a student.”
Comparison allows Carleton to find ways it can approach the future, whether it is continuing efforts or developing new ways to support students.
“Carleton could do better than some of our peers — that is always a good goal to have — but also in and of itself to do better, particularly with first-gen and Pell grant recipients,” said Schicker.
At the end of the presentation, the tables conversed about the data they had just seen and shared their perspectives as members of the Carleton community.
“I think all of the data and statistics shared highlight the importance [of the idea that] once a student graduates, the job isn’t done. And that’s where my job really comes in, to connect alumni and students so they can continue that pathway after graduation and secure a job,” said Koller. “I think for me, the main catches seem to be making sure students feel supported enough in their first year to continue.”
To many, the presentation allowed for faculty to consider how they can help students grow in their time at college.
“With the knowledge from the presentation, I hope to discuss strategies in our department to help students master not only the content of our classes and major/minor, but also ‘life’ in our department and at Carleton in general, especially in the first and last year on campus,” said Schiker.
The researchers don’t plan on stopping their work, and instead view the presentation as a chance to gather more information.
“And now the next step is for Melissa [Eblen-Zayas], my co-presenter, and me to organize the notes that we gathered [from the tables] and thematically understand what we could potentially pursue,” said Imamura. “So that is, to me, the most important and interesting part of this.”
