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Table - All Programs Show Notes

Enrollment Change for GVSU Undergraduate Majors: to

About this report

The report tracks the movement of students into and out of GVSU undergraduate programs between the fall and fall semesters. It consists of a summary table showing basic data for all programs and detailed reports for each program. To switch from the summary table to the detailed report, either choose a program from the dropdown list at the top of the page or click on a program name in the summary table. To return to the summary table, choose "Table - All Programs" from the dropdown list at the top of the page.

The summary table

For each major that had enrollees on the census date of either fall or fall , the table shows the number enrolled in each of those semesters, the one-year change, the retention rate within the program, and the number of new students by their origin type. To be counted as retained, students need to have been enrolled in the major in fall and either (a) be enrolled in the major in fall , or (b) have earned a bachelor's degree in the major by September .

The detail report

Each individual program's report has 5 parts:

• A "waterfall" chart that shows the outflows and inflows of students for the program between fall and fall .
• A table showing the fall status of students who were enrolled in the program in fall , by class. Note that students who left the major are counted by their destination, not their class (e.g, if a student is a senior in another major in fall , she/he is counted under "Left Major", not "Senior".) The retention rate shown in this table is the percentage of students who remained in (or graduated from) the major, not the university as a whole. The retention rate with respect to the university is not shown, but it can be easily derived from the "Dropped/Stopped Out" chart that appears below it.
• Four charts comparing performance on selected measures to overall university performance:
  1. Changed Major (away) -- the percentage of fall students in the major who left the program, but remained at GVSU.
  2. Dropped/Stopped Out -- The percentage of fall students in the major who were not enrolled at GVSU in fall (and didn't graduate). Note that this is a broader definition of "Dropped Out / Stopped Out" than is used in the "waterfall" chart, in that it includes students who transferred to other institutions. The retention rate with respoect to the university is the percent-complement of the rate shown (e.g. if the drop/stop-out rate is 10% then the retention rate is 90%).
  3. Retained, but didn't advance -- The percentage of fall students in the major who still held the same class designation in fall (e.g. students who were sophomores in the major in both years).
  4. Graduated (% of Seniors) -- Of the students who were seniors in the program in fall , what percent earned their degree within the year?
  Note that the "All Programs" comparison rates exclude data for "Degree-seeking Undergraduate" and "Non Degree Undergraduate" students, since retention within those groups is qualitatively different from retention within regular academic programs.
• Lists of the most recent major or institution for students who entered the program during the year*.
• Lists of the major or institution chosen by students who left the program during the year*.

* Majors are tabulated for students who were previously/subsequently enrolled at GVSU. Institutions are tabulated if the student didn't have another GVSU major before/after the major of interest.
Each list can be truncated to 5 entries to conserve space, or expanded to include all data. The truncated version is not a true "top 5" list, since it may exclude entries that have the same number of ocurrences as some of those that do appear.

Glossary

Census Date -- Official fall enrollment counts are made at the end of the "drop/add" period for the semester. This occurs at the end of the first week of classes.

Change of Major -- For the purpose of this report, a change means a student either began or ceased to be enrolled in the particular program of interest. Because students can pursue more than one major at a time, changes are frequently not the "one-for-one" swaps that they appear to be here. For simplicity, any student who is not enrolled in the program of interest at a particular time is counted in the current major that is listed first on his/her record. For example, consider a student who was enrolled in majors A & B in fall and B & C in fall . In the report for major B, she would be counted as retained. In the major A report, she'd be counted under "Left Major", and major B would appear in the "departing students went to..." list (even though she was in B all along). In the report for major C, she'll be counted under "Changed/Added major", and major A will appear in the "new students came from..." list.
Note also that students who change major then drop out, transfer out, or graduate (in the new major) are counted under "Left major".

Transferred Out -- For students who leave GVSU, we get information from the National Student Clearinghouse about subsequent higher education enrollments. If the student was enrolled at any other institution during the time span covered by the GVSU fall semester, that student is counted under "Tranferred Out" and the institution is listed in the "departing students went to..." list. If the student enrolled at more than one institution, the one whose enrollment period started first is listed. The Clearinghouse data is believed to include about 96% of US higher education enrollments. To the extent that GVSU students leave to attend schools that don't report to the Clearinghouse, these "Transferred Out" numbers may be under-reported and the "Dropped Out/Stopped Out" figures could be inflated.