OCTOBER, 2019 - BRIEF NO. 19-2 - RETENTION OUTCOMES FOR TWO-YEAR COLLEGE GRANT-ELIGIBLE STUDENTS

Oct 15, 2026

October 2019 brief number 19-2 examines retention outcomes for Washington state two-year college grant-eligible students in 2017-18, comparing students served by the State Need Grant (SNG) versus those not served. It reports that 78% were served and 22% unserved, with served students showing more need met, less hardship, and higher fall-to-spring retention. The brief also analyzes enrollment timing by first- and second-year status, linking earlier fall starts to higher completion and highlighting policy transition to the Washington College Grant.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages4

Reading Time10 min

AccessFree to download

Overview

State Need Grant (SNG) and 2017-18 service status

Washington College Grant (WCG) replacement

Key Findings

Served vs. unserved retention outcomes

Financial need coverage and hardship reduction

Enrollment Timing and Completion

First-year vs. second-year fall starts

Completion differences for fall starters

Analytical Approach and Context

Retention as a performance indicator

Comparison to 2007-08 patterns

OCTOBER, 2019 | BRIEF NO. 19-2 RETENTION OUTCOMES FOR TWO-YEAR COLLEGE GRANT-ELIGIBLE STUDENTS: SERVED AND NOT SERVED BY THE WASHINGTON STATE NEED GRANT IN 2017-18 The State Need Grant (SNG) has been Washington state’s largest need-based financial aid program for low-income students. The year 2007-08 was the last year in which it was funded sufficiently to serve nearly all (98 percent) of eligible students. From 2010-2018, up to 30 percent of eligible students were unserved. In 2013, we first studied the differences in student persistence impacted by the unmet financial need between served and unserved students who enrolled in community and technical colleges in 2012i. This research brief updates our first report for 36,600 SNG eligible students enrolled in 2018ii. Seventy-eight (78) percent of these students were served and 22 percent were unserved. Our key findings are consistent with our first report in that served students have more of their total financial need met, therefore reducing hardship and subsequently resulting in higher fall-to-spring quarter retention compared to unserved students. The 2019 State Legislature established the Washington College Grant (WCG) program to replace the State Need Grant. The WCG secures funding for all eligible students. In light of this support, we go back to the last year in which students were nearly fully served, which was 2007-08. We identify a key difference for fall quarter enrollment (as much as 19 percentage points in a given year) between first-year and second-year year students. Addressing this difference for even more first-year/first-time college students could benefit college completion. Students who start in fall quarter and not later in the year have as much as 9 percentage points higher completion for all students and 15 percentage point higher completion for transfer students. The State Need Grant substantially lessens financial hardship for served versus unserved students. Student financial need is calculated based upon college tuition and books and other living expenses compared to income. Federal and state grants are the primary means for meeting unmet need for aid-eligible students. In our first report, we studied students who were full-time for the full year in the served and unserved groups. We found that the State Need grant met 17 percent of students’ financial need and that served students had a substantially higher percent of their total need met by this additional state aid. In 2018, our most recent year, we had a similar finding as the SNG met 19 percent of need for full-time, full-year served students compared to unserved (see Table 1) . Table 1. | Served vs
Unserved | Average Student Need | Average total
financial aid | Average total SNG | % of need met by total aid | % of need met by SNG | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | No | $16,200 | $8,800 | 0 | 54% | 0% | | Yes | $17,100 | $12,200 | $3290 | 71% | 19% | Eligible students served versus not served have substantially higher fall to spring retention. In our first report we looked at fall to spring retention/completion and found it was 12 percentage points higher for full-time, full-year served versus unserved students. We repeated our analysis for 2018 and discovered similar findings (see Figure 1) . Figure 1. 2017-18 Fall to Spring Full-time, Full Year Retention for SNG-Eligible Served and Not Served Students 59% 47% Served Not served SNG-eligible students, first-year students are less likely to begin in fall and more likely to start later in the year than second-year students. In our analysis we use fall-to-spring retention as a key performance indicator during the academic year for measuring students on track and on time to complete. We reviewed 2007, the last year in which the SNG was nearly fully able to serve all eligible community and technical college students to look for similar patterns. Seventy-nine (79) percent of all students served start

FAQs

What does the brief compare between students served and not served by the SNG?

It compares how much financial need is met and how those differences relate to retention from fall to spring quarter, as well as subsequent hardship and completion outcomes.

What are the reported retention findings for served versus unserved students in 2017-18?

Served students meet a larger share of their total need, experience less hardship, and show higher fall-to-spring quarter retention than unserved students.

How does starting in fall relate to completion outcomes for first-year students?

First-year, first-time students who start in fall have higher completion rates than those who start later in the year, with completion differences quantified up to 9 percentage points for all students and up to 15 percentage points for transfer students.

Oct 15, 2026

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