Washington State University retained 78.9 percent of freshmen students system-wide from 2015 to 2016, an improvement of one percent from the previous year.

We are happy to see improvement in this area and dedicated to making sure every student admitted to WSU is afforded every opportunity to earn a degree. Thank you to the faculty, staff and other WSU community members who have worked to effect the changes that have increased our students’ success rates.

On the WSU Pullman campus, 3,354 students from the 2015 entering class of 4,220 returned to WSU for the fall semester. This reflects an improvement of 1.2 percent over 2014, to 79.5 percent. Retention rates also improved on almost all of WSU’s non-Pullman campuses, where the smaller numbers overall can create larger fluctuations that make year-to-year figures more difficult to interpret. We saw improvements across nearly all student groups, including first-generation, under-represented groups, and honors students.

The system-wide engagement of our faculty, and staff and administrators has been key to increased student success. Their focus on engaging students early in their academic journeys and finding ways to connect them with valuable resources on our campuses has enabled students to more proactively anticipate and meet their needs.

We are investing in technology to improve communication with students, and to provide the right resources at the right times. We’re also expanding mentor programs and undergraduate research programs proven to increase students’ chances of earning degrees at WSU. Faculty are exploring ways to use open-education and lower-cost course materials, with support from Provost seed grants, the Office of Academic Outreach and Innovation, and the OpenStax project. Please continue to do all you can to help with these efforts and to ensure that more students find success at Washington State University. You can find more information at teach.wsu.edu/oer.

With your help we will provide a “top-25” instructional experience for our students. We’re committed to giving all Cougars every opportunity to reach their academic goals.

If you have questions, comments, or feedback on this post, or other matters concerning the Office of the Provost, please email them to provost.social@wsu.edu.