Categories and Key Word Examples

Curricular – Assessments of credit bearing programs and policies (academic policies, credit recovery courses, early performance feedback, campus connections)
Co-Curricular – Reports focusing on non-credit bearing programs and policies (advising, honors, residence life, SDPS programs)
Equity and Access –  Assessments of programs/policies intentionally aimed to increase equity in student outcomes and access to CSU (rams against hunger, financial aid, net cost analysis)
Reports on programs that are considered a high impact practice in the national literature (learning communities, UG research, first year seminars)
High-impact Practices – Reports on programs that are considered a high impact practice in the national literature (learning communities, UG research, first year seminars)
Pre-Admit Characteristics – Reports that explore the attributes students arrive at CSU with and the correlates with success at CSU (students recommended for support, pre-admit characteristics, HS GPA vs Index)
Student Success – Reports in the student success category focus on metrics like graduation and retention rates in order to compare these rates across different programs or support activities. Metrics might also include credit accumulation and GPA or probation rates.

Search Research Briefs

Learning Communities

Learning Communities (LCs) at Colorado State University are a high-impact practice that bring strategically defined cohorts of students together around a common purpose to enrich learning, provide a sense of community, and empower them to become engaged campus and global

First Year Commuters FA13-FA23

The following tables include demographic and persistence and graduation rates for First Year Commuters. First Year Commuters include new, first-time full-time, Main Campus students from the FA13 through FA23 cohorts who lived off-campus at any time during their first year

Community for Excellence

The Community for Excellence (C4E) creates an asset-based approach to equitable learning experiences for students from their first semester to their last.

Student Diversity Programs and Services (SDPS)

These reports produced for the Cultural Centers assist with their program review process by providing the demographics, persistence, graduation, and GPA of students that participate in their programs.

Fostering Success Program

The Fostering Success Program (FSP) is a donor funded program that provides scholarships, academic support, and other resources to students from independent backgrounds. This report describes the participants of FSP and assesses their student success outcomes, i.e., persistence rates, four-

Academic Advancement Center

The Academic Advancement Center is committed to centering the needs and experiences of institutionally minoritized students by creating opportunities to access higher education. A FA22 assessment report examines the association between AAC participation and student success outcomes among a sample

Major-Changing Patterns & Student Success

An October 2022 report provides a comprehensive descriptive picture of major-changing patterns at CSU and the association between major changing and student success outcomes. The report focuses on first-time, full-time undergraduate summer and fall starts in cohorts FA12 – FA17

Qualitative Study on Why Students Leave CSU

In the fall of 2021, IRP&E contracted with the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRISS) to conduct a qualitative study to understand why undergraduate students leave CSU before graduating and what types of supports or policies CSU can

High School Graduate GPA Inflation

Though there was little data at the state level on high school GPAs/grade inflation, several recent national studies conducted by ACT, Inc.[1] and National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) [2] explore high school grade inflation.  Where possible, we compare these national studies to

Summer Session and Student Success

These reports describe the association between summer session enrollment and student success (measured by persistence, graduation, GPA) among first-time, full-time (FTFT) cohorts at CSU.  Overall, summer enrollment appears to be a positive academic behavior in terms of persistence and graduation, especially for

Financial Aid Response to the COVID-19 Crisis

During the COVID-19 pandemic, CSU received $43 million for direct student payments from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Students were required to apply for funds and must have had

ENcourage Engineering Summer Math Program

The ENcourage Engineering Math Program is a summer program intended to help incoming engineering students who did not test “calculus ready” through the math placement tool to improve pre-calculus math skills. Students in the college have higher success rates when calculus

Student Success by College

Two October 2021 reports document differences between CSU colleges in both undergraduate student demographics and in measures of persistence and graduation. The Student Access and Success by College report summarizes student characteristics by college and for the first-time, full-time cohort

Racially Minoritized Students

The 2019 report explores differences in persistence and graduation rates among self-identified racial categories and serves as an update to reports generated by identity in 2016 that highlighted gaps for all racially minoritized (RM or minoritized) groups. Institutional research data

First Generation Students

A persistent and large percentage point difference in persistence and graduation rates exists for first generation students compared to their continuing generation peers. This report compiles CSU’s research on first generation students to help inform the campus discussion on closing

Math Success

The purpose of this report is to understand gaps in math achievement by demographic group including first generation (FG), minority, and Pell students. Along with institutional data, this report utilizes survey data collected by the PACE center to inform how

Taking Stock

The Taking Stock (TS) program seeks to better understand students’ first year experiences, further their opportunities for success, and improve first-year retention. TS uses survey data to promote meaningful conversations between on campus undergraduates and their Resident Advisors (RAs). These

ASSET Students

This report describes the ASSET students at CSU in terms of their academic/demographic characteristics as well as their student success indicators. ASSET status is defined as being eligible for in-state tuition under Senate Bill 13-033 during any semester of enrollment

Campus Connections

Campus Connections (CC) is a multidisciplinary service learning course at CSU where undergraduate students serve as mentors to youth. Students from all majors work one-on-one with youth ranging from 11-18 to tackle a broad range of challenges. Youth are referred

Education Abroad

These studies explore the relationship with study abroad (SA) participation and graduation outcomes, namely to understand whether participating in study abroad significantly hinders graduation rates or time to graduation.  The most recent study found SA students who persisted to their

Student Recreation Center

The 2017 report examines the relationship between campus recreation activity (i.e., recreation center visits and intramural participation) and academic success for the 2015-2016 academic year.  Overall, half of all enrolled undergraduates visited the recreation center and 12% played on an intramural

Access Center

This report describes the demographics as well as higher education access and success of Access Center students at CSU. College access is measured by the college going rates for Access Center high schools and with CSU’s yield and admit rates

Learning Assistants

Learning assistants (LAs) serve as peer educators by supporting instructor implementation of active learning during class sessions in high-enrollment courses and facilitating study sessions outside class time. In these roles, LAs engage students in high-impact practices (HIPs) such as collaborative

Unsuccessful Course Completion and Student Success

These reports explore the association between an unsuccessful course completion (defined as earning a D, F, or U grade) in undergraduate courses on retention and graduation for first-time, full-time (FTFT) students.  A student with no unsuccessful course completions has a predicted

Momentum Year

In October 2018, the state of Colorado announced its participation in Complete College America’s National Momentum Pathways Project. The Momentum Pathways Project (Momentum Year) is comprised of several strategies aimed to help first-year students stay on-track for graduation, to build momentum through their

Key Communities

The Key Communities are highly diverse first- and second-year learning communities designed to help CSU achieve its student success goals. Key is an effective way to support graduation for all students but particularly among historically underserved populations. First-year Key students

Residence Life

Residence Life Annual Assessment Reports provide information on the demographics and student success outcomes of different groups of students: (i) residence life students in a learning community, (ii) residence life students not in a learning community, and (iii) commuter students.

First-Year Seminar Associations With Student Success

The January 2018 report explores the associations between participating in a first-year (FY) seminar and various measures of student success in the context of proposing a university-wide seminar requirement. This report also explores these associations excluding Key and Honor’s students.

Observed vs Predicted Persistence and Graduation

The April 2020 report explores differences between an undergraduate department’s observed second-fall persistence and six-year graduation rates and the department’s predicted rates, based on the demographics and high school GPA of the three most recent first-time, full-time (FTFT) cohorts. The

Credit Recovery Courses

Credit recovery courses (CRC) are sections designed to give students the chance to regain credits that are lost because of withdrawing from other courses during the semester. Recouping credits is an important option for students to stay on track for timely graduation

Adaptive Courseware and Active Learning

Between 2016 and 2019, the Institute for Learning and Teaching (TILT) joined seven other land-grant institutions in the Accelerating Adoption of Adaptive Courseware grant offered by the Personalized Learning Consortium (PLC) of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). 

Career Center

Overall, about one in 10 new students visit the Career Center in their first year and are more likely to report participating in an internship, co-op, or other work-related activity. Career services users are more likely to be nonresidents and non users

Exploratory Studies

Exploratory Studies (formally “Undeclared”) students comprise roughly 20% of CSU’s new, main campus students every fall term. A May 2017 report offers an updated picture (from the 2011 report) on first-time, full-time (FTFT) undeclared students’ demographic characteristics, persistence rates, and

Honors Program

These reports provide an overview of the demographic breakdown of first-year, fall cohort students in the honors program along several categories over the last five years. Persistence and graduation rates among Honors students are explored in the 2016 and 2015

Academic Policies

During the COVID-19 pandemic, CSU implemented academic policy adjustments to increase flexibility for students. Students were able to switch any of their earned letter grades to a Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory (S/U) grade after grades were posted and the course withdrawal

SLiCE Program Participation

The May 2022 report examines the correlation between SLiCE participation and persistence to 2nd fall, 3rd fall, and 4th fall. This report focuses only on full-time fall and summer starts in cohorts FA16-FA20. It finds that SLiCE participation in a

Transfer Student Success

The 2019 report provides an overview of transfer students admitted to the university during the 2011 through 2017 cohort years, exploring demographic characteristics, student success outcomes, as well as perceptions and experiences as captured in the annual Taking Stock survey.

Rams Against Hunger

Operating from The Office of Student Leadership, Involvement and Community Engagement (SLiCE), Rams Against Hunger (RAH) offers a menu of services that support students, faculty and staff experiencing food insecurity. These reports describe the student demographics and academic performance for RAH applicants and awardees.  The 2020

Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Persistence

These reports investigate 2nd Fall and 3rd Fall persistence rates by Expected Family Contribution (EFC) for recent first-time, full-time (FTFT) freshman cohorts. Analyses are conducted separately for Colorado resident freshmen and nonresident freshmen, and sub-groups of interest including First Generation students and

Student Success and Financial Aid

These reports examine student success and financial aid by using a novel metric, the net cost ratio. The net cost ratio is the proportion of a student’s cost of attendance (COA) after “gift aid” (i.e., grants and scholarships that do

Students Recommended for Support

Since 2016 CSU has used a holistic review to identify students as recommended for support (SRS) during the admissions process. The reason(s) why a student is flagged as needing extra support can include low test scores, poor high school grades

Associations Between Student Attributes and Success

The April 2021 report uses logistic regression models to illustrate the associations between student attributes (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, high school GPA, etc.) and measures of persistence and graduation. We estimate how much more (or less) likely a student is to

Early Performance Feedback and Course Success

Started in FA09 to enhance first-year student performance in 100-level courses, Early Performance Feedback (EPF) is a structured early warning program that helps improve academic feedback during the critical early weeks of the semester. In EPF courses instructors identify students

On-Campus Work and Success

This report examines the relationship between on-campus employment and undergraduate student persistence and graduation. Campus employment, in addition to providing financial support, also provides opportunity for meaningful learning experiences and connection to the campus community, similar to other co-curricular experiences.

Academic Predictors of Success

The number of institutions of higher education using Test Optional Policies (TOPs) in admissions decisions has increased significantly in recent years, including a growing number of four-year Colorado institutions Colorado College, University of Denver, Colorado Christian University, and Metropolitan State