Student Achievement

EGSC Three-Year Transfer-Out Rate
First-Time, Full-Time Fall Semester Cohorts
Threshold of Acceptability: 60 Percent

Three-Year Transfer-Out Data	2012 Cohort	2013 Cohort	2014 Cohort	2015 Cohort	2016 Cohort	Overall
Fall Cohort Number	1,171	929	973	1,044	987	5,104
Number Transferred-Out	773	614	587	657	528	3,159
3 Year Transfer-Out Rate	66%	66%	60%	63%	53%	62%

Definition: The rate of EGSC students in the first-time, full-time (FTFT) fall semester cohort who transfer to another institution within three years.

Key Finding: National data confirm that up to two-thirds of EGSC’s FTFT freshmen successfully transfer to another college or university of choice within three years after starting as beginning freshmen at EGSC. That is a high rate of student success which is normally not seen when only examining 3-year graduation rates and first-year retention rates. Despite the drop to a 53 percent transfer-out rate for the Fall 2016 cohort, the overall rate for the five most recent fall cohorts is above the threshold of acceptability. These transfer-out results confirm that EGSC is accomplishing its primary transfer mission.

 

EGSC Three-Year Graduation Rate
First-Time, Full-Time Fall Semester Cohorts
Threshold of Acceptability: 12 Percent

Three-Year Graduation Data	2015 Cohort	2016 Cohort	2017 Cohort	2018 Cohort	2019 Cohort	Overall
Fall Cohort Number	1,044	987	933	954	929	4,847
Number Graduated	131	130	124	156	121	662
3 Year Graduation Rate	13%	13%	13%	16%	13%	14%

Definition: The rate of EGSC students in the first-time, full-time (FTFT) fall semester cohort who graduate from EGSC with an associate degree within three years.

Key Finding: There have been small percentage fluctuations in the 3-year graduation rates for associate degrees at EGSC over the last five years but 14% has been the average over that time. That may appear low, but when the 3-year graduation rate is added to the 3-year transfer-out rate for a specific cohort, it can be concluded that 7 out of every 10 EGSC beginning freshmen are successful in either achieving an associate degree or transferring out to another college or university of their choice. For example, of the 1,044 students in the Fall 2015 Cohort, 131 students (13%) graduated with an associate degree from EGSC and another 657 students (63%) who did not earn an EGSC associate degree transferred successfully to another institution either within or outside of the University System of Georgia.

 

EGSC First-Year Retention Rate
First-Time, Full-Time Fall Semester Cohorts
Threshold of Acceptability: 50 Percent

One-Year Retention Data	2017 Cohort	2018 Cohort	2019 Cohort	2020 Cohort	2021 Cohort	Overall
Fall Cohort Number	933	954	929	691	550	4,057
Number Retained	478	478	489	295	275	2,215
1 Year Retention Rate	51%	50%	53%	43%	50%	50%

Definition: The rate of EGSC students in the first-time, full-time fall semester cohort who were retained at EGSC the following fall semester.

Key Finding: About half of EGSC’s first-time full-time freshmen each fall do not re-enroll at EGSC the following fall. However, the three-year transfer-out rates cited above suggest that a substantial number of these non-returning students successfully transferred to other colleges and universities, which is EGSC’s principal mission. The one-year retention rate was lower for the Fall 2020 Cohort amid the challenges posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic and recovered to 50 percent for the Fall 2021 Cohort.

 

EGSC’s Rates of Successful Fall Semester Course Completions
Threshold of Acceptability: 60 Percent

Course Success Rates	Fall 2018	Fall 2019	Fall 2020	Fall 2021	Fall 2022	Overall
On-Campus Course Success Rates	65%	66%	61%	60%	60%	63%
Online Course Success Rates	63%	62%	63%	58%	62%	62%
Course Success Outcomes Rate	64%	65%	62%	59%	61%	63%

Definition: Course is completed successfully when a student earns a grade of A, B, or C for a course.

Key Finding: Successful completions of on-campus courses have declined slightly over the last three years as students coped with the challenges posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic. The online course success rate recovered from a Fall 2021 decline in Fall 2022.

EGSC Annual Number of Degrees Conferred
Threshold of Acceptability: 300

Fiscal Year	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	Avg/Year
Graduates	302	322	303	322	282	306

Definition: Number of associate and baccalaureate degrees conferred by EGSC for each fiscal year (FY) starting with the summer semester and ending with the following spring semester.

Key Finding: The annual number of degrees conferred at EGSC over the past five years has fluctuated but the average for the past five fiscal years exceeds the threshold of acceptability. The average per year of 306 is almost double the FY 2011-12 number of 168 degrees conferred just prior to the onset of EGSC’s Complete College Georgia initiative.