by Tera Roberson
Staff Writer
The University of Houston is retaining students better than the majority of Texas universities, the UH Office of Policy and Planning Analysis revealed.
The office released the Zeke Paper No. 97.1, an analysis of the graduation and retention rates at UH, on Feb. 20.
The Zeke Paper is similar to the Statistical Reports released by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which provided statewide comparative information on the retention and graduation of full-time new freshmen at public universities.
UH ranked fifth highest out of 27 universities in Texas with 71.8 percent student retention after the first year, compared to the state average of 63.3 percent and a graduation rate of 36.9 percent compared to a statewide average of 30.7 percent.
The three top-ranked schools were Texas A&M, University of Texas at Austin and Stephen F. Austin State University, all residential universities rather than commuter schools like UH.
"We are quite different than UT or A&M, but when you lay it out, compare the rates across Texas, you can see we are among the other universities," said Lorne Kuffel, director of UH's Office of Policy and Planning Analysis.
UH's study was conducted as a result of growing concerns about how good or bad the university was doing when it came to retaining and graduating it's students.
Kuffel, said, "This gives us an understanding as a campus that we are OK. There is room for improvement, but we are OK."
In fact, the figures presented in the Zeke Paper were close to those calculations in the Statistical Reports.
"The data in the Zeke Paper was derived from rates by the coordinating board and was very close to what the state calculated," Kuffel said.
The figures produced in the Statistical Reports are used as performance measures by the Texas Legislature. Because the figures are valuable to the Legislature, they are valuable to universities. They don't directly affect funding, but can influence appropriations.
Kuffel said, "Graduation rates are used as performance indicators by the state. Retention rates are also reported to the National Collegiate Athletic Association, so you get some publicity out of that as well."
Ray Grasshoff, public information officer of the Higher Education Coordinating Board, said graduation rates of students are also used as performance measures to compare the universities. "The awarding of degrees is one way to measure the success (that) the university is having in educating its students," Grasshoff said.
The figures are used to compare student retention and graduation rates based on the performance of full-time new-freshman cohorts or groups entering a university in a fall semester or quarter.
Grasshoff said, "They look at all the ... students who enter in that period, and then they take another look at it. (They look) at that same group of students six years later to see how many have earned degrees."
The initial group of freshmen does not change except for special circumstances such as military leave, missionary work or death.
If the students have left the university before the end of the six years, they are still counted in the study conducted by the state of Texas.
"Even if they withdraw, they are still counted. The methodology that the state uses, you don't change after your initial cohort is calculated," Kuffel said.
Although the state of Texas only drops students from their initial group for reasons of military leave, missionary work, or death, Dr. Elwyn Lee, vice president of student affairs, said there are many other reasons students leave school and are do not stay for the entire six years.
"At a community campus, you have students that have to stop-out, which is when a student has to stop and work and earn money."
UH also has an older student population, with an age median of 27, which is a reason for students not maintaining full-time status.
"They have more responsibilities. Fees get increased, and they may not have the funds to go through (school)," Lee said. "They may have to stop for a while or drop from full-time to part-time."
The information provided by the Texas retention study also showed that females had a higher level of retention and graduation at public universities at all but two of the 27 universities, with 5.8 percentage points higher than male students. The study also broke down categories of ethnic and racial heritage.