NOVA Graduation Rate Increases!

NOVA’s graduation rate increased 2.6 percentage points for the Fall 2017 cohort compared to the Fall 2016 cohort. Graduation is an important measurement of student success. While NOVA’s graduation rate has grown steadily since Fall 2013, the 2.6 percentage-point increase is the largest year-over-year rise observed between Fall 2012 and Fall 2017, the most recent cohort for which data are available. The graduation rate increased 6.7 percentage points at NOVA between Fall 2012 and Fall 2017.

NOVA measures its graduation rate at 150 percent of normal time to program completion, which is standard practice in higher education. For example, a two-year degree program measured at 150 percent of normal time to completion considers students who graduate within three years to have graduated on time for their program. The graduation rate is measured for first-time in college, full-time, program placed students. Among NOVA’s Fall 2017 cohort, which included 5,504 students, 1,615 students had graduated within 150 percent of normal time to program completion, for a graduation rate of 29.3 percent.

NOVA’s graduation rate is reported by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) using data supplied by NOVA’s Office of Institutional Research (OIR). In comparison to the NOVA data, IPEDS most recently reported a graduation rate of 35.7 percent among all two-year postsecondary institutions for the 2016 cohort year. IPEDS graduation rate trend data for all two-year postsecondary institutions for the 2017 cohort year are forthcoming.

Submitted by:
Sam Shi, AVP of Intstitutional Research, XShi@nvcc.edu