MSUM sees gains in retention, closing equity gaps
Retention rates for Minnesota State University Moorhead students reached a five-year high this fall, with impressive gains in achieving equity for traditionally underrepresented students.
The university saw a 72% retention rate for first-time undergraduate students from Fall 2022 to Fall 2023, up from 71.8% last year and 68.2% the year prior. This is the highest rate for MSUM since 2018 and is an indication the university continues to make progress toward our goal of reaching 76% by 2024.
Equity gaps – the disparity in educational outcomes among different groups of students – lessened for several key populations compared to 2022:
- Students of color were retained at a rate of 70.9%, up from 60.2% last year and exceeding a campus goal of 68%. This closed the equity gap to 2.3%, compared to a 13.2% gap in 2022.
- The equity gap between first-generation students and continuing-generation students shrunk from 9.2% to 4.7%, with 69.9% of first-generation students retained from Fall 2022 to Fall 2023.
- The gap between Pell eligible students and non-Pell eligible students decreased to 0.6%, with 71.6% of Pell eligible students retained to Fall 2023.
The campus also achieved its highest four-year graduation rate, with 40.5% of first-time students who started in Fall 2019 graduating in four years. The campus had set a goal to reach a 40% rate by 2025. The six-year graduation rate is 53.6% indicating progress toward the campus goal of 55% by 2025.
Details regarding MSUM’s retention and graduation goals, current rates for overall students and our underrepresented student groups, and retention efforts are available on the Enrollment Retention Efforts webpage.