Student Success

Persistence Rates

Persistence rates (retention rates) are a commonly used student progress measure for both two-year and four-year institutions.  The definitions for these rates typically use a fall term cohort (often the first-time freshman cohort).  The most frequently used rates are fall-to-spring persistence and fall-to-fall persistence:

FDTC’s Benchmark: 71%, used by the South Carolina Technological College System.

FALL-TO-SPRING PERSISTENCE RATES - TARGET 71%

FALL-TO-SPRING PERSISTENCE COLLEGE-LEVEL DATA 2021-22

System Numerator and Denominator: 2021-22
Total Numerator (42,368)/Total Denominator (58,021) = 73.02%

Data Source: EDSS Report ENR115PI
Notes: Initial Fall 2021 Close Data and Retained Spring 2022 Open Data (High School Student are Excluded)

Student Success Rates

The Student Success Rate is a cohort-based measure of graduation, transfer to another postsecondary institution in South Carolina, or continuing enrollment after three years of first-time enrollment. The cohort includes all first-time freshman enrolling in degree, diploma, or certificate programs in each fall semester. 

SCTCS Performance Funding Indicators, April 2023
STUDENT SUCCESS RATES - TARGET 49%

Licensure Exam Pass Rates

The Commission on Higher Education (CHE) has the responsibility for making available to the General Assembly “student scores on professional examinations with detailed information on state and national means, passing scores, and pass rates, as available, and with information on such scores over time, and the number of students taking each exam” from both four- and two-year institutions (S.C. Code Section 59-101-350). CHE also uses this information as the primary source to fulfill the requirements in S.C. Section 59-103-30 (Performance Funding). Colleges report the number of examinees, the number of first-time examinees, the number of first-time examinees who pass, and the percentage of first-time examinees who pass for the list of licensure exams identified by CHE. The reporting guidelines specify that colleges report those who took exams between April 1st and the following March 31st. CHE requests national and state pass rates and any additional information for these examinations, as it is available, from national and state agencies for the report to the General Assembly. These national and state agencies can be found in A Closer Look at Public Higher Education in South Carolina, which is available on the CHE website. The colleges will begin reporting this information to the System Office with the next reporting cycle. The System Office will collect this data and report it to CHE.

FDTC’s Bench mark: 80%, used by the South Carolina Technical College System 

^{SCTCS Performance Funding Indicators, April 2023}

LICENSURE EXAM PASS RATES - TARGET 80%

System Numerator and Denominator
2021-22: Total Passed (2,587) / Total Test Takers (3,051) = 84.79%

Data Source: CHE Licensure Exam Report - Submitted by colleges via email

Six-Year Outcomes and Total Completion Rates

Data Source: National Student Clearinghouse Signature Report (2014 Fall Cohort, 2015 Fall Cohort, 2016 Fall Cohort)
Table 2A: "Six-Year Outcomes and First Completion for Students Who Started at Your Institution by Gender"
Table 2B: National Benchmark: Six-Year Outcomes and First Completion for Students Who Started at Two-Year Public Institutions by Gender