Why not define the cohort as all students starting full-time in the fall?
Research suggests that many students who start full-time shift to part-time attendance. At Lane Community College, a five-year average of 44% of the new students in the fall start as part-time students. We didn’t want to exclude them based on that initial term’s course load. A student starting full-time would attempt at least 12 credits in that initial term. They need only attempt 15 more credits over the next five non-summer quarters to be included in the analysis. This doesn’t seem an unreasonable requirement if Lane is to be held responsible for students’ achievements. The cohort definition does not require students to pass or earn any credits – they must simply attempt a total of 27 credits (typically eight or nine courses) in two years.
Related Questions
- How do I report students who changed attendance status (part-time to full-time OR full-time to part-time) between one fall to the next on the retention rate screen?
- What is the difference between our full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking cohort (GRS cohort) and the entering students calculated in Part D?
- Why not define the cohort as all students starting full-time in the fall?
