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Improvements occurred across most institution types, majors, and racial/ethnic groups, with notable gains for Native American students and stable Asian student retention.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/persistence-and-retention-fall-2021-beginning-postsecondary-student-cohort/585887/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/persistence-and-retention-fall-2021-beginning-postsecondary-student-cohort/585887.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Jordan Avery","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"How is persistence different from retention in this report?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Persistence is the share of students who return to college at any institution for their second year. Retention is the share who return to the same institution for their second year.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What changed from fall 2021 to the second year, nationally?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Nearly 76% of students who started in fall 2021 persisted into their second year, rising 0.9 percentage points and matching pre-pandemic levels.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What drove the increase in persistence for the fall 2021 cohort?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The report attributes growth to a higher share of students being retained at their starting institution into the second year, rather than a higher share transferring out.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},585887,1792902134,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":26,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":55,"preview_page_count":4},1099523882367,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","Persistence and Retention  \nFall 2021 Beginning Postsecondary Student Cohort  \nJuly 2023  \nNearly 76 percent of the 2.4 million students who started college in fall 2021 returned for their second year. This persistence rate marks a one-year increase of 0.9 percentage points and a return to pre-pandemic levels. Persistence rate gains are notable among full-time students, Native American students, and computer science majors.  \nThe Persistence and Retention report series examines first-year persistence and retention rates for beginning postsecondary students. Persistence rate is the percentage of students who return to college at any institution for their second year, while retention rate is the percentage of students who return to the same institution. Students attaining a credential in their first year are accounted for in persistence and retention rates. The report is designed to help institutions understand trends and patterns in this important early success indicator, and identify disparities by institutional type, state, credential level sought, starting enrollment intensity, major field, and student demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and race and ethnicity. This year’s report includes a new data dashboard to enable viewers to analyze, visualize, and interact with the longitudinal data, which are also available for download.  \nNational Highlights  \n• The overall persistence rate for students who started college in fall 2021 was 75.7 percent, up 0.9 percentage points (pp) from last year. This persistence rate matches the pre-pandemic average for the 2016 to 2018 entering classes.  \n• This latest persistence rate growth was driven by a higher share of students being retained at their starting institution into their second year (+0.9 pp in retention) . This is a shift from last year’s trend, where a higher share of students transferring out in their first year drove persistence rate increases.  \n• Persistence rates improved in all institution types except for-profit four-year colleges and primarily associate degree granting baccalaureate institutions (PABs) . Community colleges saw slight persistence rate gains, building on a sharp increase last year and approaching levels not seen since 2018.  \n• Persistence and retention rates increased for all major racial/ethnic groups, except for Asian student retention which was stable (-0.1 pp from last year) . Native American students made notable gains after sharp decreases last year (+2 .0 pp in persistence and +1.6 pp in retention over last year) .  \n• The size of the fall entering postsecondary student cohort increased in 2021 for the first time since 2018 (+3 .4%, 78,400 students, from last year), although it did not return to pre-pandemic levels. The community college entering cohort in particular remained well below pre-pandemic levels as it continued to decline in fall 2021.  \nOf the 2.4 million students who entered postsecondary education for the first time in fall 2021, 75.7 percent persisted at any U. S. institution by fall 2022. This persistence rate is 0.9 pp above the previous cohort and matches pre-pandemic levels (2016 to 2018 average, see Figure 1) . As shown in Figure 1, 67.2 percent of students were retained at their starting institution for their second year or earned a credential at that institution within a year of enrollment, a rate 0.5 pp above the pre-pandemic average. An additional 8.6 percent transferred out and continued enrollment at another institution by their second fall. This transfer-out rate was essentially flat compared to the previous cohort, meaning that gains in persistence among fall 2021 college starters were driven by the higher share remaining at their starting institution into their second year.  \nNot all institution sectors saw persistence and retention improvements. While community colleges as well as public and private nonprofit four-year institutions saw increases in both persistence and retention rates this year, private f","cbCaip9vIwCxs0rd","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaip9vIwCxs0rd","pdf",156587,"English","# National Highlights\n## Persistence and retention trends for the fall 2021 cohort\n## Drivers of persistence growth and retention vs. transfer-out\n## Differences by institution type\n## Patterns by race and ethnicity\n## Effects across majors and credential levels\n## Enrollment intensity differences","[{\"question\":\"How is persistence different from retention in this report?\",\"answer\":\"Persistence is the share of students who return to college at any institution for their second year. Retention is the share who return to the same institution for their second year.\"},{\"question\":\"What changed from fall 2021 to the second year, nationally?\",\"answer\":\"Nearly 76% of students who started in fall 2021 persisted into their second year, rising 0.9 percentage points and matching pre-pandemic levels.\"},{\"question\":\"What drove the increase in persistence for the fall 2021 cohort?\",\"answer\":\"The report attributes growth to a higher share of students being retained at their starting institution into the second year, rather than a higher share transferring out.\"}]","Persistence and Retention - Fall 2021 Beginning Postsecondary Student Cohort | PDF",1792056239]