Inside Iowa State

December 10, 2004

Retention and graduation rates, full-time freshmen in learning communities
Entry		Number of Freshmen	Number of	Retention		Graduation
Year		Communities	Freshmen	1-year (%)	3-year (%)	4-Year (%)	6-Year (%)
1998	In Comm.	23	1,080	90.9	81.1	40.8	77.6
	Not in Comm.		2,716	81.9	68.9	24.5	62.2
1999	In Comm.	36	1,602	90.1	79.9	38.0
	Not in Comm.		2,418	81.7	68.9	27.0
2000	In Comm.	38	1,490	89.8	80.2	37.5
	Not in Comm.		2,799	80.4	67.0	27.9
2001	In Comm.	43	1,683	88.1	77.5
	Not in Comm.		2,913	80.6	67.5
2002	In Comm.	43	1,649	89.9
	Not in Comm.		2,518	80.5
2003	In Comm.	42	1,771	88.0
	Not in Comm.		2,086	81.9

 

Iowa State learning communities are yielding impressive results. Since 1998, students who participated in freshman learning communities have notched higher retention and graduation rates than their classmates. There are about 50 learning communities at Iowa State. Students in the communities generally take two to three courses together during their freshman year, study together and may even live in the same residence halls. U.S. News and World Report ranked Iowa State's learning communities among the top five nationally in 2003. More about learning communities: http://www.iastate.edu/~learncommunity.