Key Performance Indicators

• Retention Rates
• Graduation Rates
• Time to Completion
• Measures of Academic Proficiency and Progress (ETS Proficiency Profile)

Retention Rates

The National Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)* defines full-time retention rates as the number of full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students who enter the institution for the first-time in the fall and who return to the same institution the following fall (as either full- or part-time), divided by the total number of full-time, first-time, degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates in the fall of first entrance.  For 4-year institutions offering a bachelor's degree, this rate is reported only for those first-time students seeking a bachelor's degree

Note: Current IPEDS definition of retention rates focuses on students seeking a bachelor's degree. Therefore the numbers exclude students pursuing an associate degree (such as Nursing or Health Professions) or a transfer program. For this reason, the number of students reported in each year's cohort numbers is considerably smaller than the entire freshman class for the year.

*IPEDS Data Feedback Report

Graduation Rates

IPEDS Definition**: Graduation rates are those developed to satisfy the requirements of the Student Right-to-Know and Higher Education Opportunity Acts and are defined as the total number of individuals from a given cohort of full-time, first-time, degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates who completed a degree or certificate within a given percent of normal time (for the degree or certificate), divided by the entire cohort of full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates minus any allowable exclusions.

We need to note here that the current IPEDS definition of graduation rates can be faulted for its inability to describe true student success in cases of high student mobility. Adventist colleges and universities tend to have comparatively lower graduation rates precisely because of high student mobility since they serve a national and international denominational constituency. PUC's transfer-out rate is 30-40%, which is above the median for both national private non-profit institutions and Adventist institutions. At the same time, approximately equal numbers of students transfer in. As a result,the size of a typical PUC graduating class is about 70% of the size of its freshman class.

**Ibid

Time to Completion

(Students who completed a bachelor's degree)

As the Time to Completion tables demonstrate, about two thirds of all graduates graduate after four years of study. The average time to complete a bachelor's degree is about 4.29 years or 13 quarters. The main reason for longer time spent in college is a student's decision to change a program of study. Time spent in obtaining a degree also increases when students come underprepared and have to take remedial courses.

Measures of Academic Proficiency and Progress (ETS® Proficiency Profile)

The ETS® Proficiency Profile was developed to measure and demonstrate the outcomes of general education programs in order to help institutions improve the quality of instruction and learning. This test is administered to PUC seniors. Below are the results of the most recent test in comparison to nationwide data for baccalaureate (liberal arts) colleges.*

2018 Summary of PUC Scaled Scores

Distribution of Institutional Mean Total Scores (Baccalaureate (Liberal Arts) Colleges Nationwide*)

The table below shows the distribution of institutional mean total scores for seniors at all participating baccalaureate (liberal arts) colleges to provide the context for PUC's results. With total score of 452.43 PUC is at the 79 percentile, which means that almost four fifths of all participating institutions have total scores lower than PUC.

2018 Summary of PUC Proficiency Classifications

The skills measured by the ETS® Proficiency Profile test are grouped into proficiency levels - three proficiency levels for writing, three for mathematics, and three for the combined set of skills involved in reading and critical thinking. The table shows the percentage of students who are proficient, marginal, and not proficient at each proficiency level in reading and critical thinking, writing, and mathematics. A student classified as marginal is one whose test results do not provide enough evidence to classify the student either as proficient or as not proficient. Every category is followed by nationwide averages for baccalaureate (liberal arts) colleges.***

*** Nationwide data and methodology can be found at http://www.ets.org/proficiencyprofile/about