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University of Minnesota, Morris
Morris, MN 56267

Retention Among Students of Color at UMM:
the 2006 Retention and Graduation Rates

The 2006 student retention report on graduation/retention rates by race/ethnicity for first-time/full-time new entering freshmen from the Office of Institutional Research and Reporting allows for the calculation of retention and graduation rates for UMM students of color (SOC) who entered as freshmen in successive years. The system allows tracking the percent who return in the subsequent year at UMM or who transfer to a different campus within the University system. The attached Table 1 shows the rates for freshmen SOC cohorts from 1993 through 2005. This table indicates the percent who returned for their sophomore year, their junior year and their senior year; then shows the percent to graduate in four, five, and six years, and “to date” which is either the seven- or eight-year graduation figure. For comparison, Table 2 shows the same data for the UMM student body as a whole--including the students of color.

Because there are relatively small numbers of students involved in each class, the most reliable retention and graduation rates for UMM's SOC population probably come from the averaging of the data for the last three years. Considering those figures, the SOC freshman to sophomore retention rate within the University is 77.6%; freshman to junior retention is 67.4%; freshman to senior retention is 59.3%. The four-year graduation rate for students of color is 25.3%; however, the six-year graduation rate is 40.7%.

While the SOC retention and graduation rates are not as high as those for the student body as a whole, the three-year average rate for SOC freshman to sophomore retention at 77.6% is only slightly lower than the overall campus retention rate of 85.0%.

The chart attached shows students of color retention rates compared to those for the UMM student body as a whole for students who entered UMM as freshmen and remained or graduated from any campus within the University of Minnesota system.

Nancy Helsper
UMM Institutional Research