EXPLANATORY NOTE FOR CSRDE STEM DISCIPLINE PERSISTENCE RATES

The California State University (CSU) participates in a series of surveys of retention and graduation rates of various cohorts of students, which are annually organized by the Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange (CSRDE). Details of the surveys are at the CSRDE website: http://tel.occe.ou.edu/csrde/.

All CSRDE reports are very similar in content. In general, they all list cumulative graduation and continuation rates for a given cohort at a given campus. They only differ in the cohort of students that are tracked. First-time, full-time freshmen with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) declared majors on entry are tracked in STEM reports. Two types of rates are reported: institution-wide rates and discipline-specific rates.

Institution-wide (STEM Institution) rates pertain to the cohort of full-time, first time freshmen that started in any STEM major and graduated or continued in any major (STEM or Non-STEM) at the home campus (i.e. students may transfer out of STEM).

Discipline-specific (STEM Discipline) rates pertain to the cohort of full-time, first time freshmen that started in any STEM major and graduated or continued in any STEM major at the home campus. That is, to be included in a given STEM Discipline cohort, students must start in and remain within defined STEM majors, although they may switch to other defined STEM majors. In general, STEM Discipline persistence rates are lower than STEM Institution persistence rates as they are subject to the additional, STEM-specific, attrition.

The table below lists retention rates and cumulative graduation rates for six successive STEM Discipline cohorts of first-time freshmen that entered CSU in fall of each year from 1995 to 2001. The two oldest ones (1995 & 1996) were tracked for 6 years, and the youngest cohort (2001) was tracked for one year. Hence, each row represents events for a single cohort.

Table 1. California State University - System wide

First-Time, Full-Time Freshmen Seeking a Degree in a STEM Discipline

RETENTION RATE / CUMULATIVE GRADUATION-CONTINUATION RATES
HEAD- / AFTER / AFTER / WITHIN 4 YEARS / WITHIN 5 YEARS / WITHIN 6 YEARS
FALL / COUNT / 1 YEAR / 2 YRS / GRAD / CONT / GRAD / CONT / GRAD / CONT
1995 / 5,752 / 0.728 / 0.550 / 0.032 / 0.373 / 0.166 / 0.194 / 0.249 / 0.094
1996 / 6,432 / 0.737 / 0.552 / 0.034 / 0.371 / 0.157 / 0.197 / 0.240 / 0.093
1997 / 6,790 / 0.735 / 0.548 / 0.037 / 0.359 / 0.155 / 0.190
1998 / 7,346 / 0.735 / 0.552 / 0.047 / 0.375
1999 / 8,088 / 0.714 / 0.539
2000 / 8,464 / 0.725 / 0.557
2001 / 8,731 / 0.712

Here is a description of the findings for the fall 1995 cohort that indicates what the table entries represent.

§  Of the 5,752 admitted in fall 1995 with STEM declared majors, 72.8% (0.728) returned to the CSU fall 1996. Thus, 27.2% switched to non-STEM majors, transferred to other institutions, or dropped out.

§  The proportion still enrolled in fall 1997 in STEM majors was 55.0% (0.550).

§  In the fall of 1999, the 4-year graduation rate in STEM majors was 3.2% (0.032) and those still enrolled in STEM majors was 37.3% (0.373).

§  Likewise, in the fall of 2000, the 5-year graduation rate in STEM majors was 16.6% (0.166), and the 5-year continuation in STEM majors was 19.4% (0.194).

§  Finally, in the fall of 2001, the 6-year graduation in STEM majors was 24.9% (0.249), and the 6-year continuation rate in STEM majors was 9.4% (0.094).

Hence, rates for the fall 1995 cohort illustrate that the retention (continuation) rate is a decreasing function over time, while graduation rate is an increasing one.

Further, starting in 2004, CSRDE requested that STEM majors be identified using CIP 2000 definitions. This resulted in some changes: additions, deletions, and movement of individual programs among program groups. Thus, the 1996 – 2002 cohorts are different from the 1995 – 2001 cohorts where they overlap: 1996 – 2001. A description of the CIP system is located at: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2002/cip2000/.