Result:
Enter the details above to calculate your student retention rate.
Understanding Student Retention Rate
Student retention rate is a crucial metric for educational institutions, indicating the percentage of students who remain enrolled from one academic period to the next. A high retention rate generally signifies student satisfaction, program effectiveness, and a supportive learning environment. Conversely, a low retention rate can signal underlying issues that need addressing, such as curriculum deficiencies, inadequate student support services, or financial barriers.
Calculating student retention rate helps institutions identify trends, measure the impact of interventions, and benchmark their performance against peers. It's a vital tool for strategic planning and continuous improvement in the educational sector.
How to Calculate Student Retention Rate
The formula for student retention rate is straightforward:
Retention Rate (%) = [(Number of Students at Beginning of Period – Number of Students Who Dropped Out During Period) / Number of Students at Beginning of Period] * 100
Sometimes, institutions may also want to account for students who graduate within the same period. In such cases, the formula can be adjusted to exclude graduates from the calculation of dropouts if the focus is purely on preventing attrition for those who are expected to continue. For the purpose of this calculator, we are considering "dropped out" as any student who did not complete the period for reasons other than graduation.
Example Calculation:
Let's say an institution starts the academic year with 500 students. During that year, 50 students graduate, and 20 students drop out.
- Number of Students at Beginning of Period: 500
- Number of Students Graduated During Period: 50
- Number of Students Dropped Out During Period: 20
Using the formula:
Retention Rate = [(500 – 20) / 500] * 100
Retention Rate = [480 / 500] * 100
Retention Rate = 0.96 * 100
Retention Rate = 96%
This indicates that 96% of the students who were enrolled at the beginning of the period and did not graduate, remained enrolled throughout the period.
function calculateRetentionRate() {
var startingStudents = parseFloat(document.getElementById("starting_students").value);
var graduatedStudents = parseFloat(document.getElementById("graduated_students").value);
var droppedOutStudents = parseFloat(document.getElementById("dropped_out_students").value);
var retentionResultElement = document.getElementById("retention_result");
if (isNaN(startingStudents) || isNaN(droppedOutStudents)) {
retentionResultElement.innerHTML = "Please enter valid numbers for all fields.";
return;
}
if (startingStudents <= 0) {
retentionResultElement.innerHTML = "Starting students must be greater than zero.";
return;
}
if (droppedOutStudents < 0) {
retentionResultElement.innerHTML = "Dropped out students cannot be negative.";
return;
}
if (graduatedStudents startingStudents) {
retentionResultElement.innerHTML = "Dropped out students cannot be more than starting students.";
return;
}
var retainedStudents = startingStudents – droppedOutStudents;
var retentionRate = (retainedStudents / startingStudents) * 100;
retentionResultElement.innerHTML = "
Number of Students Retained: " + retainedStudents.toFixed(0) + "" +
"
Student Retention Rate: " + retentionRate.toFixed(2) + "%";
}
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