Retention calculator
What is one point of retention worth to your college?
Enter your first-year class, your retention rate and your net tuition. See what first-year attrition costs each year, and what each percentage point of first-to-second-year retention is worth.
Your numbers
New first-year students who start in the fall.
The share who come back for a second year. The CCCU average was 72.1% (IPEDS 2022). Source
After institutional aid. $15,000 is an example; enter yours.
Leave at $0 to count tuition only.
After the first year. Often about three for a four-year degree.
An estimate from your numbers, not a promise.
First-year students who don’t return
112
Revenue lost to first-year attrition, per year
$1,680,000
Over the 3 years they would have stayed
$5,040,000
Each point of retention is worth
One percentage point is 4 more students coming back for a second year.
Per year
$60,000
Over 3 years
$180,000
An estimate from your numbers, not a promise. We don’t claim Socio Connect raises retention by any amount. This shows what a point is worth at your college, so you can weigh any first-year effort against it.
How the numbers work
- Students who don’t return are your first-year class times the share who leave.
- Revenue per student is net tuition plus housing and dining net revenue, for one year.
- Revenue lost per year is the students who don’t return times that revenue. Over the years is that, times the years a retained student typically stays.
- One point of retention is 1% of your first-year class, valued the same way.
- Fees, aid changes and transfer-ins are left out, so treat it as a starting point.
Questions about the calculator
- Where do these numbers come from?
- From you. The calculator multiplies the figures you enter and nothing else. The defaults are placeholders: the 72% retention default sits near the CCCU average of 72.1% (IPEDS 2022), and the net tuition default is an example to replace with your own.
- Does Socio Connect promise to raise our retention?
- No. We do not promise any number. This shows what one point of retention is worth at your college, so you can weigh any first-year effort, ours or anyone else’s, against your own figures.
- Why net tuition, not sticker price?
- Net tuition is what students pay after institutional aid, so it is the revenue a returning student actually brings. Using the sticker price would overstate the figure.
- What does years a retained student typically stays mean?
- How many more years a student who comes back for year two usually stays and pays. For a four-year degree that is often about three. Use your own figure if you have it.
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