Student Retention Rate
Percentage of students who continue into the next academic year without withdrawing
What is Student Retention Rate?
Student retention rate is the percentage of students who re-enrol for the next year. It shows how well an institution keeps its students.
Losing students hurts them and reduces income, so retention is a central concern.
How this KPI is measured
- Function
- Operations & Supply Chain
- Sub-function
- Student Retention
- Industry
- Education
- Type
- Lagging
- Impact
- Quality
- Unit
- %
- Measurement frequency
- Annual
- Formula
- (Students re-enrolling / Total students enrolled in prior year) × 100
How to calculate it
Divide students re-enrolling by total students enrolled in the prior year, and multiply by 100.
For example, if 4,500 of 5,000 students re-enrolled, retention is 90%.
Exclude students who graduated, and analyse by year of study, course and student group.
Where it is used
Spotting risks early
Find at-risk groups.
Improving support
Target help.
Forecasting numbers
Plan capacity.
How to improve it
Tips and common mistakes
- Exclude graduating students from the base.
- Retention is often lowest after the first year.
- Look at group differences.
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