An environmental scan of Fresno City College revealed that retention rates are climbing.

An environmental scan conducted by Dr. Lijuan Zhai, director of institutional research for Fresno City College, clearly defines the 2012 retention rate at FCC as 90 percent for fall and spring semesters. This has been improving every year since 2006. The 2012 summer semester was 92 percent, which was a decrease from 93 percent in 2011.

Before the summer of 2012, the summer semester retention rate had been improving every year since 2006. The drop in summer retention rates may have had something to do with the limited amount of classes and the increase in shorter term summer courses.

The environmental scan contains information from internal and external sources that examine statistics including which ethnic groups have higher graduation rates, success rates between men and women, which groups have a higher GPA and the number of full-time students compared to part-time students. The information is then used to track and plan for the future trends of students.

After all the information is gathered, it’s processed and put into an informational PDF file which  is accurate, easy to understand and available for download on the FCC website.

However, not all statistical information is easy to understand, especially when used incorrectly to show a rise or decline is progress.

Upon completing the 2013-2014 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), you’ll be taken to a confirmation page. Towards the bottom of that page, you’ll see school retention percentages prepared by The National Center for Educational Statistics about FCC.

Their statistics show that FCC has a graduation rate of 14 percent, a retention rate of 65 percent and a transfer rate of 11 percent. Seeing these low numbers would typically be cause for concern.

The retention, graduation and transfer rates listed by the NCES were for first-time college students only. These statistics do not include thousands of students who had returned to college after an absence of various times. NCES is displaying percentage rates from a sub-category that unintentionally misleads you into thinking that they are the overall percentage rate.

The retention rate at FCC is 90 percent, not 64 percent, which is the difference between  an “A” and a “D.”

FCC is improving overall and they have the statistics to prove it, regardless of what FAFSA displays.