Digest of Education Statistics
2012 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 378. Retention of first-time degree-seeking undergraduates at degree-granting institutions, by attendance status, level and control of institution, and percentage of applications accepted: 2006 to 2011
Level, control, and percent
of applications accepted
First-time degree-seekers (adjusted entry cohort),1
by entry year
Students from adjusted cohort
returning in the following year
Percent of first-time undergraduates retained
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2006 to 2007 2007 to 2008 2008 to 2009 2009 to 2010 2010 to 2011
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
  Full-time student retention  
All institutions 2,171,714 2,269,712 2,296,305 2,386,597 2,341,321 1,542,175 1,619,269 1,647,198 1,714,013 1,679,620 71.0 71.3 71.7 71.8 71.7
Public institutions 1,524,044 1,603,819 1,654,779 1,743,668 1,698,663 1,072,644 1,132,790 1,167,180 1,229,276 1,192,769 70.4 70.6 70.5 70.5 70.2
Nonprofit institutions 466,139 477,369 476,153 478,708 487,864 369,084 375,721 378,111 381,423 389,217 79.2 78.7 79.4 79.7 79.8
For-profit institutions 181,531 188,524 165,373 164,221 154,794 100,447 110,758 101,907 103,314 97,634 55.3 58.8 61.6 62.9 63.1
                               
4-year institutions 1,458,731 1,505,161 1,511,976 1,465,669 1,461,703 1,115,529 1,152,921 1,176,973 1,153,975 1,152,644 76.5 76.6 77.8 78.7 78.9
                               
Public institutions 912,401 936,000 973,089 945,951 941,098 711,490 732,384 765,163 751,623 746,633 78.0 78.2 78.6 79.5 79.3
Open admissions 62,724 60,815 81,559 47,943 43,261 38,839 38,724 52,988 30,079 26,633 61.9 63.7 65.0 62.7 61.6
90 percent or more accepted 68,835 66,114 58,002 60,147 74,731 49,274 46,731 39,851 43,654 54,244 71.6 70.7 68.7 72.6 72.6
75.0 to 89.9 percent accepted 244,177 237,913 213,388 213,441 205,404 185,457 180,287 164,559 164,061 158,677 76.0 75.8 77.1 76.9 77.3
50.0 to 74.9 percent accepted 417,093 439,824 473,007 468,817 469,055 336,199 356,969 382,451 380,473 379,448 80.6 81.2 80.9 81.2 80.9
25.0 to 49.9 percent accepted 103,118 107,824 127,960 134,042 131,782 88,908 90,123 108,601 114,477 112,006 86.2 83.6 84.9 85.4 85.0
Less than 25.0 percent accepted 7,716 10,223 13,479 14,326 13,996 7,048 9,479 12,785 13,649 13,302 91.3 92.7 94.9 95.3 95.0
Information not available 8,738 13,287 5,694 7,235 2,869 5,765 10,071 3,928 5,230 2,323 66.0 75.8 69.0 72.3 81.0
                               
Nonprofit institutions 457,566 468,955 468,220 470,748 476,912 363,760 370,740 373,352 376,726 382,520 79.5 79.1 79.7 80.0 80.2
Open admissions 26,679 26,571 24,220 22,613 22,861 16,116 15,227 16,499 14,349 14,330 60.4 57.3 68.1 63.5 62.7
90 percent or more accepted 13,684 16,008 16,738 15,066 13,922 9,549 11,249 11,899 10,898 9,720 69.8 70.3 71.1 72.3 69.8
75.0 to 89.9 percent accepted 102,218 93,360 81,056 80,332 80,816 78,495 71,066 61,725 62,246 62,865 76.8 76.1 76.2 77.5 77.8
50.0 to 74.9 percent accepted 190,079 196,121 210,894 218,136 224,992 148,781 152,948 164,566 170,310 176,699 78.3 78.0 78.0 78.1 78.5
25.0 to 49.9 percent accepted 93,560 100,121 98,546 98,239 92,996 81,880 86,755 84,760 84,926 79,847 87.5 86.7 86.0 86.4 85.9
Less than 25.0 percent accepted 26,696 28,631 32,190 32,980 38,926 25,639 27,621 30,570 31,790 37,386 96.0 96.5 95.0 96.4 96.0
Information not available 4,650 8,143 4,576 3,382 2,399 3,300 5,874 3,333 2,207 1,673 71.0 72.1 72.8 65.3 69.7
                               
For-profit institutions 88,764 100,206 70,667 48,970 43,693 40,279 49,797 38,458 25,626 23,491 45.4 49.7 54.4 52.3 53.8
Open admissions 45,273 46,801 20,894 16,997 16,350 18,735 22,723 12,459 9,329 8,990 41.4 48.6 59.6 54.9 55.0
90 percent or more accepted 6,285 5,347 4,632 3,713 2,900 3,454 2,764 2,465 1,301 1,524 55.0 51.7 53.2 35.0 52.6
75.0 to 89.9 percent accepted 3,703 6,157 6,384 3,224 2,428 2,081 3,129 3,085 1,549 1,284 56.2 50.8 48.3 48.0 52.9
50.0 to 74.9 percent accepted 12,845 19,724 8,874 15,929 10,122 6,536 10,249 5,602 8,243 5,443 50.9 52.0 63.1 51.7 53.8
25.0 to 49.9 percent accepted 18,142 18,118 28,288 6,098 7,214 8,036 8,672 14,094 3,423 3,942 44.3 47.9 49.8 56.1 54.6
Less than 25.0 percent accepted 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Information not available 2,516 4,059 1,595 3,009 4,679 1,437 2,260 753 1,781 2,308 57.1 55.7 47.2 59.2 49.3
                               
2-year institutions 712,983 764,551 784,329 920,928 879,618 426,646 466,348 470,225 560,038 526,976 59.8 61.0 60.0 60.8 59.9
Public institutions 611,643 667,819 681,690 797,717 757,565 361,154 400,406 402,017 477,653 446,136 59.0 60.0 59.0 59.9 58.9
Nonprofit institutions 8,573 8,414 7,933 7,960 10,952 5,324 4,981 4,759 4,697 6,697 62.1 59.2 60.0 59.0 61.1
For-profit institutions 92,767 88,318 94,706 115,251 111,101 60,168 60,961 63,449 77,688 74,143 64.9 69.0 67.0 67.4 66.7
  Part-time student retention
All institutions 463,234 532,827 519,619 551,181 545,227 191,586 219,857 210,836 231,593 228,460 41.4 41.3 40.6 42.0 41.9
Public institutions 419,006 475,209 477,242 502,825 497,707 171,746 194,321 192,225 211,093 210,585 41.0 40.9 40.3 42.0 42.3
Nonprofit institutions 14,585 14,414 11,213 10,369 9,861 7,018 6,523 5,477 4,899 4,360 48.1 45.3 48.8 47.2 44.2
For-profit institutions 29,643 43,204 31,164 37,987 37,659 12,822 19,013 13,134 15,601 13,515 43.3 44.0 42.1 41.1 35.9
                               
4-year institutions 82,367 95,410 97,051 73,376 69,350 38,257 43,441 45,678 32,720 29,048 46.4 45.5 47.1 44.6 41.9
                               
Public institutions 48,353 48,190 63,932 34,504 29,922 23,631 23,006 31,910 17,240 15,361 48.9 47.7 49.9 50.0 51.3
Open admissions 20,223 20,645 38,295 9,470 6,318 8,298 9,122 17,982 3,852 2,626 41.0 44.2 47.0 40.7 41.6
90 percent or more accepted 3,745 3,450 2,707 3,735 4,930 1,909 1,667 1,205 1,861 2,784 51.0 48.3 44.5 49.8 56.5
75.0 to 89.9 percent accepted 8,969 8,145 7,476 6,504 5,650 4,196 3,818 3,872 3,277 2,856 46.8 46.9 51.8 50.4 50.5
50.0 to 74.9 percent accepted 11,599 12,236 11,969 11,496 10,667 6,766 6,245 6,649 6,131 5,699 58.3 51.0 55.6 53.3 53.4
25.0 to 49.9 percent accepted 3,373 3,023 3,084 3,125 2,262 2,223 1,866 1,992 2,023 1,330 65.9 61.7 64.6 64.7 58.8
Less than 25.0 percent accepted 65 44 42 44 43 50 34 34 35 35 76.9 77.3 81.0 79.5 81.4
Information not available 379 647 359 130 52 189 254 176 61 31 49.9 39.3 49.0 46.9 59.6
                               
Nonprofit institutions 12,828 12,886 9,883 9,609 9,110 6,045 5,614 4,772 4,499 3,992 47.1 43.6 48.3 46.8 43.8
Open admissions 5,446 5,330 3,369 3,821 3,949 2,579 2,306 1,504 1,693 1,614 47.4 43.3 44.6 44.3 40.9
90 percent or more accepted 523 1,272 971 393 478 237 434 421 199 180 45.3 34.1 43.4 50.6 37.7
75.0 to 89.9 percent accepted 2,459 2,132 1,307 1,177 951 1,047 895 633 558 456 42.6 42.0 48.4 47.4 47.9
50.0 to 74.9 percent accepted 3,131 2,899 2,016 3,256 2,955 1,406 1,307 1,029 1,531 1,333 44.9 45.1 51.0 47.0 45.1
25.0 to 49.9 percent accepted 853 917 1,963 712 647 452 478 1,016 366 319 53.0 52.1 51.8 51.4 49.3
Less than 25.0 percent accepted 112 94 78 93 84 86 84 70 78 67 76.8 89.4 89.7 83.9 79.8
Information not available 304 242 179 157 46 238 110 99 74 23 78.3 45.5 55.3 47.1 50.0
                               
For-profit institutions 21,186 34,334 23,236 29,263 30,318 8,581 14,821 8,996 10,981 9,695 40.5 43.2 38.7 37.5 32.0
Open admissions 10,515 20,602 10,933 10,996 13,052 4,105 9,896 4,296 4,333 4,767 39.0 48.0 39.3 39.4 36.5
90 percent or more accepted 2,212 1,616 3,518 1,375 2,549 639 735 1,037 379 569 28.9 45.5 29.5 27.6 22.3
75.0 to 89.9 percent accepted 2,838 2,702 2,057 3,151 2,407 1,342 959 697 1,093 527 47.3 35.5 33.9 34.7 21.9
50.0 to 74.9 percent accepted 2,774 4,360 3,686 4,661 6,237 1,134 1,399 1,707 2,283 1,996 40.9 32.1 46.3 49.0 32.0
25.0 to 49.9 percent accepted 2,033 3,185 2,584 1,099 1,826 627 951 1,116 342 583 30.8 29.9 43.2 31.1 31.9
Less than 25.0 percent accepted 0 170 48 0 0 0 67 22 0 0 39.4 45.8
Information not available 814 1,699 410 7,981 4,247 734 814 121 2,551 1,253 90.2 47.9 29.5 32.0 29.5
                               
2-year institutions 380,867 437,417 422,568 477,805 475,877 153,329 176,416 165,158 198,873 199,412 40.3 40.3 39.1 41.6 41.9
Public institutions 370,653 427,019 413,310 468,321 467,785 148,115 171,315 160,315 193,853 195,224 40.0 40.1 38.8 41.4 41.7
Nonprofit institutions 1,757 1,528 1,330 760 751 973 909 705 400 368 55.4 59.5 53.0 52.6 49.0
For-profit institutions 8,457 8,870 7,928 8,724 7,341 4,241 4,192 4,138 4,620 3,820 50.1 47.3 52.2 53.0 52.0
†Not applicable.
1 Adjusted student counts exclude students who died or were totally and permanently disabled, served in the armed forces (including those called to active duty), served with a foreign aid service of the federal government (e.g., Peace Corps), or served on official church missions.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Spring 2008 and Spring 2011, Enrollment component. (This table was prepared November 2012.)

2012 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest