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Northwest College’s efforts to help students finish the goal of completing their studies is coming to fruition.
In nine years, the college has brought completion rates from a decade low of …
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Northwest College’s efforts to help students finish the goal of completing their studies is coming to fruition.
In nine years, the college has brought completion rates from a decade low of 26% for the 2010 cohort to 46% for the most recently recorded fall 2018 cohort of students, meaning nearly half of students who started four fall semesters ago completed their studies by the spring of 2021 (completed within three years of starting).
That 46% (out of 314 students) is the highest completion rate on record for the college for first-time, full-time students. It was also the highest rate in the state, which had an average of 39% amongst the Wyoming colleges.
“That’s some really good news,” NWC President Lisa Watson said. “We have a lot to be proud of there.”
NWC Institutional Research Manager Lisa Smith unveiled the stats at the college’s annual meeting at the Cody Center. She noted NWC has implemented multiple retention and completion efforts over the past decade including first-year seminars, co-requisite math and English courses, course maps for student program completion, a dedicated academic and career adviser, and the HELP alert system, among others.
The college is on the leading edge of a national trend, because as completion has been a national focus, rates are increasing at many institutions. For nine of the past 10 cohorts, NWC’s completion rates have been higher than or equal to the state average. NWC’s rates are well above the national public, two-year institution average, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.
Smith said the numbers look even better for NWC students by combining completion and transfer rates. For the most recent five cohorts, 59%-60% of students completed or transferred within three years of starting at NWC. As larger percentages of students have graduated within three years, smaller percentages of students have transferred without a degree. “We’re having some success in encouraging them to earn their degree before they transfer,” Smith said.
