The University of Central Florida announced a retention rate of 90.4% of students who were admitted to the university in Summer or Fall 2017, marking one threshold crossed for UCF to become a preeminent research university.
The Florida Board of Governors requires a 90% retention rate for a university to reach preeminence standing and
The retention rate last year, for students admitted in the Summer or Fall 2016, held at 89.6%, according to UCF, which inspired vice president of Student Development and Enrollment Services Maribeth Ehasz to implement Operation 90%.
SDES and individual colleges within the university rallied to reach out to students who had yet to re-register to return to classes, solving any personal, financial, or academic problem the student might have been experiencing.
And according to UCF, college deans called students to encourage their return and offer assistance.
“This is something that has been a priority for us a long, long time,” said Ehasz.
“A year ago we got close. We learned from that how important it is to keep an eye on students through the entire registration cycle. There was a continuous effort to work with the first-year students and a specific high-intensive initiative between May and September to ensure that all students who could, were registered.”
The average retention rate among public universities from the latest data was 81.9%, Paige Borden, UCF associate vice president for Institutional Knowledge Management said. UCF then places 40th in the United States. Borden also noted that the new retention rate is 3.5% higher than the 2012 entry class, who set a six-year graduation rate record of 72.5%, enough to place top-50 nationally.
