116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Iowa regent graduation rates up, retention rates down
‘This retention decline for the fall 2020 cohort reflects challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic’
Feb. 17, 2022 3:21 pm
IOWA CITY — The percent of students attending Iowa’s public universities who graduate in four years is rising, as is the percent who graduate in six years. At the same time, the collective rate of freshman who returned in fall 2020 for a second year dropped — a likely result of the pandemic, officials report.
“This retention decline for the fall 2020 cohort reflects challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including personal, academic and financial disruptions,” according to officials at University of Northern Iowa, which saw the biggest first-to-second-year retention drop among Iowa’s three public universities, from 86 percent to 81 percent.
The fall 2021 graduation and retention numbers — which universities tout often, prospective students use to choose a college, and U.S. News and World Report considers in calculating its top college rankings — came out this week in anticipation of next week’s Board of Regents meeting.
They reveal Iowa’s regent universities have consistently done — and continue to do — better in second-year return rates and four-year graduation rates than the national average among four-year public universities, although national data is lagging.
The numbers
- Iowa’s regent universities collectively saw 87 percent of their 2020 entering class return this fall for a second year, down from 88 percent the year before — which saw a 2 percentage-point increase, despite COVID-19.
- The national average second-year return rate for both four-year public and nonprofit private institutions is 76 percent — more than 10 percentage points below Iowa’s public universities.
- The University of Iowa’s second-year return rate remained stable, at 88 percent, this fall from last; Iowa State University’s dropped one percentage point, from 89 percent to 88 percent; and UNI saw the biggest drop of 5 percentage points, from 86 percent to 81 percent.
- Iowa’s regent universities collectively saw their four-year graduation rate improve from 52 percent to 54 percent, well above the national average for four-year publics of 41 percent but just below the national average for four-year privates of 56 percent.
- The UI boasted the highest four-year graduation rate of 57 percent, up from 55 percent; ISU’s four-year rate improved to 54 percent, from 51 percent; and UNI’s four year rate rose to 45 percent, from 43.
- ISU boasts the highest six-year graduation rate of 76 percent, up from 75 percent; UI has a 74-percent six-year rate; and UNI’s six year rate climbed five percentage points, from 64 percent to 69 percent.
All three of the campuses reported using some of their federal coronavirus aid to help students graduate or stay in school
“Paired with timely distribution of (Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds) to students with financial need and systematic outreach to students who stopped out temporarily, the campus community continues work to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on our students,” UNI officials reported.
Demographic differences
Across all categories — retention rates and four- and six-year graduation rates — Iowa regent students identifying as white had higher numbers than racial or ethnic minorities and other underrepresented minorities.
All three of those identity groups saw their retention rates drop between one and two percentage points this fall from last.
While all three groups saw one to two percentage point gains in their four-year graduation rates, only white students made six-year gains.
Still, minority students over time have narrowed the gaps with white students. The gap in retention rates — which was as much as 10 percentage points in 1988 — today is two to three percentage points.
A six-year graduation gap of 26 percentage points between underrepresented minorities and white students in 1988 has narrowed 15 percentage points.
“While gaps remain in regent university graduation rates by race/ethnicity, the regents continue to outperform four-year public university national averages,” according to the board report.
National and local comparison
Iowa’s regent universities are at or near the top nationally in six-year graduation rates — besting every other state, at 81 percent, in the portion of students who started at a public university and earned a degree anywhere.
Iowa’s regent universities — at 70 percent — placed second to only Virginia for the rate at which students graduate in six years from the same institution at which they started.
Among the 30 four-year public and private colleges in Iowa, Grinnell College had the highest six-year graduation rate — at 87 percent — followed by Drake University and Luther College. ISU and the UI came in fifth and sixth, with 75 and 72 percent, and UNI fell closer to the middle of the pack.
“When looking at regent university graduates, the percent who earn a degree in four years has increased significantly over the past 25 years,” according to the board report. “Of the 2015 entry cohort, 70 percent of degree earners graduated in four years compared to 42 percent of the 1988 cohort.
“Only 3 percent of degree recipients in the 2015 cohort needed a sixth year to complete their degree.”
Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.
Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com
University of Iowa seniors Karen Skylar (left) of Deerfield, Ill., and Alysen Suarez of Frankfort, Ill., throw their caps in the air Thursday while taking graduation photos in front of the Old Capitol Museum in Iowa City in May 2020. (The Gazette)
Daily Newsletters