2025 National First-Year Students and Their Motivation to Complete College Report

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Fahsai

2025 National First-Year Students and Their Motivation to Complete College Report presents data and insights on challenges, opportunities, and motivations affecting first-year students’ drive to complete college. Findings are based on 2024 assessment data from 61,747 incoming cohorts captured through the RNL Retention Management System (RMS). The report examines how surveying student motivation influences retention, highlights retention gains tied to repeated administration, and outlines strategies for mission-aligned student success and support.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Data and insights on completing a college degree

Do students know you want them to succeed?

How mission and ROI shape student goals

Methodology and assessment approach

RMS early-alert assessments used in the study

Why assessment matters for retention rates

Impact of surveying on retention and completion

Retention opportunity and strategy

Effective practices and institution adoption

College commitment among incoming first-year students

Top requests for assistance from first-year students

2025 National First-Year Students and Their Motivation to Complete College Report Data and insights on the challenges and opportunities for completing a college degree, based on an analysis of nearly 62,000 first-year college students Do Your Students Know That You Want Them to Succeed? Each new student cohort presents an opportunity to assess, recognize and address their needs. Your students desire to be seen, heard, and valued. With ever-changing demographics, what was done in prior years may not be what is most beneficial for the students you enroll today. How can colleges and universities lean into their mission as a guide for addressing their students’(and their families’) desire for a clearly communicated ROI? Your institution should remain mission-focused while understanding current student needs and goals, retention indicators, and student success outcomes. Stay grounded in your mission while focusing on what is most important—building rapport, cultivating relationships and nurturing development. Remember that the success of your students and the success of your institution go hand in hand. The 2025 National First-Year Students and Their Motivation to Complete College Report provides insights that can help you understand how to best serve your students. These findings present a student perspective on the challenges and factors affecting their motivation to succeed, along with directions on how you can respond with timely and relevant actions. The findings in this report are based on data collected in 2024 from 61,747 student records of first-year students who completed an assessment in the RNL Retention Management System (RMS), a suite of three early-alert assessments that measure non-cognitive indicators in students: • Incoming students: College Student Inventory (CSI) • Students at the middle of the first year: Mid-Year Student Assessment (MYSA) • Students entering year two: Second-Year Student Assessment (SYSA) This year’s findings focus on the incoming student results from the College Student Inventory and are broken down by institution type. We also provide a deeper analysis of participants identifying as firstgeneration college students. © 2025 RNL | 2025 National First-Year Students and Their Motivation to Complete College Report 2 Why Assessment Matters: The Impact of Surveying Students on Retention Rates Assessing student motivation at the individual student and cohort level can have a direct impact on institutional retention and completion rates. On average, new RMS clients saw a one percentage point increase in their first year, full-time retention rate following their first administration. Consistently administering the survey year after year resulted in greater impacts. From 2015 to today, new clients with five or more RMS survey administrations saw statistically significant higher retention rates compared with those who administered four or fewer times in the same period. Since 2020, clients who administered the RMS surveys five or more times saw retention rates ranging from three to seven percentage points higher than clients who administered four or fewer times. Retention Rates for RMS Clients Based on Number of Administrations Five or more times Four or fewer times Data based on a February 2025 RNL review of reported retention rates 2015-2024 in IPEDS for client institutions using one or more of the instruments in the RNL Retention Management System. © 2025 RNL | 2025 National First-Year Students and Their Motivation to Complete College Report 3 Retention Opportunity According to RNL’s recent study of effective retention practices, there is an opportunity for more colleges and universities to use retention assessments. Nearly one-third of four-year institutions do not use student assessments to identify students’ needs, and more than half of two-year institutions do not use them, even though a strong majority of schools that use them say they are effective.

FAQs

What data source and assessment system were used for the 2025 findings?

The report uses 2024 data from 61,747 first-year student records collected in the RNL Retention Management System (RMS), which uses three early-alert assessments to measure non-cognitive indicators.

How does repeated administration of the RMS surveys affect retention rates?

Clients with five or more RMS survey administrations showed statistically significant higher retention rates than those with four or fewer administrations. From 2020 onward, clients administering the surveys five or more times saw retention rates ranging three to seven percentage points higher.

What are the key benefits of surveying incoming students for retention and student success?

Surveying incoming students helps campuses pinpoint optimal success strategies, match students with appropriate services, increase yield rates, identify needs of special populations, improve advising/success coaching, and intervene before students decide to withdraw.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Fahsai