1. Community for Excellence Assessment Results
Heather Novak
Research Manager, Institutional Research
February 2017

2. Considering the size and growth of this scholarship group it is essential to assess the program’s effectiveness. The purpose of this report is to explore various measures of student success (2nd fall retention, third fall retention, first-year cumulative GPA and completed credits) for C4E scholarship recipients. In order to understand the success of C4E students’ three research questions guided this report:
C4E status is determined by receipt of a specific group of scholarships during students’ cohort term. To be included in this analysis students must meet the criteria for being in a full-time cohort for first-time or transfer students from the through academic years (99% of C4E students meet the cohort criteria).

3. Assessment Questions
How has C4E student success and demographics changed over the last three academic years?
How does C4E student success and demographics compare to the overall population at CSU?
How does student success vary within the C4E program?

4. C4E Demographics C4E New Freshmen C4E Transfer Students
Relatively stable cohort size
Majority FG (74%), Pell (68%), Student of Color (76%)
The representation of diverse students has increased slightly over the 3 years
Average index 112 (stable)
98 transfer C4E students
Cohort size is increasing (47 in most recent year)
Majority FG (82%), Pell (60%), Student of Color (48%)
Average index 102 (decreasing)

5. C4E Student Success C4E New Freshmen C4E Transfer Students
90% freshman retention rate
80% are retained to the third fall
2.83 cumulative first-year GPA
On average 27.5 credits completed in the first academic year
Relatively stable across the three years
77% are retained to the second- fall
80% are retained to the third fall
2.94 cumulative first-year GPA
On average 23.2 credits completed in the first academic year
Consistent decline in these success metrics over the three years
It should be note that on average C4E students are not maintaining a B average or completing 30 credits in their first year even though they are being retained at high rates.

6. C4E Compared to CSU Overall
C4E students have much higher rates of FG, Pell and Students of Color compared to non-C4E and a much lower average index.
Freshmen C4E students are retained at a rate that is 2 to 3 percentage points higher than non-C4E students.
Freshmen C4E students have a first-year GPA and average completed credits that are lower than non-C4E, but not lower than we might expect based on what we observe among students with similar characteristics.
Transfer C4E students have second and third fall retention rates that are lower than the retention rates of non-C4E students. The second-fall rate is lower than what is observed among students with similar characteristics.
Transfer C4E students have first-year cumulative GPA’s and completed credits that are lower than non-C4E students, but not lower than we might expect based on what we observe among students with similar characteristics.
In terms of demographics, C4E first-time students and transfer students have much higher rates of first generation students, Pell Grant recipients, and minority students compared to non-C4E freshmen and transfer students. C4E students also have a lower average index compared to non-C4E students.
Based on prior research regarding the associations of these demographic and academic characteristics with freshman retention (reference link) we would predict C4E students have lower success rates compared to non-C4E. To gauge if the gap for C4E is better or worse than what we might expect the report compares the C4E gap to gaps across demographic groups such as first generation and low income
First-time C4E students have second and third fall retention rates that exceed the retention rates of non-C4E students.
C4E students from the FA13-FA15 FTFT cohorts have a second-fall retention rate of 89.3%, which is 3.2 percentage points higher than the non-C4E students from these cohorts.
Similarly, C4E students from the FA13 and FA14 cohorts have a third-fall retention rate of 80.4% which is 2.6 percentage points higher than non-C4E students from these cohorts.
Based on the demographics of C4E students we would expect them to have lower retention rates and percentage points gaps that are more similar to the first generation, minority or Pell gaps observed over this time period
Transfer C4E students have second and third fall retention rates that are lower than the retention rates of non-C4E students.
C4E transfer students from the FA13-FA15 FTFT cohorts have a second-fall retention rate of 77.9%, which is 9.6 percentage points lower than the non-C4E transfer students from these cohorts.
Based on the demographics of C4E students we would expect them to have lower retention rates; however, the 9.6 percentage point gap is considerably larger than the 3 to 6 percentage point observed among first generation and low-income transfer students.
Third fall retention is about what we would expect for this group of students

7. Variation among C4E Programs
C4E New Freshmen
C4E Transfer Students
About 30% of first-time C4E students get 2 or 3 awards.
Daniels Fund and First Generation Award are scholarship programs that have higher levels of student success and serve large numbers of students.
First-time students with a Denver Scholarship Foundation, Bridge Scholars, Native American Legacy, Alliance, or Partnership (non- resident) awards have retention rates that are consistently lower than the overall C4E first-time student retention rates.
About 20% of first-time C4E students get 2 awards.
EOC Partnership and First Generation Award are scholarship programs that have higher levels of student success and serve larger numbers of transfer students.
Transfer students with Denver Scholarship Foundation, Native American Legacy, or Partnership (resident) awards also have retention rates that are consistently lower than the overall C4E success rates.
Interestingly, there is a negative association between the number of awards and the average index (as the number of awards increase the average index decreases) and a positive association between number of awards and first generation status or minority status (as the number of awards increase the percent of students with first generation or minority status increases).
Daniels Fund and First Generation Award are scholarship programs that have higher levels of student success for both transfer and first-time C4E students.
These statements aren’t accounting for the different types of students that each program targets- it is just stating the differences in observed success as measured by retention and

8. Conclusions
The C4E program serves a very diverse group of students and overall C4E students are performing at or above a level that would be expected based on historical data at CSU.
C4E is growing and it is important to assess success each year to make sure that the growth is sustainable. Particularly important with transfer group because we saw their considerable growth in and lower success levels.
In terms of GPA and completed credits, transfer and first-time C4E students are performing at a level that would be expected. There is room for improvement among C4E students and these first-year metrics. Internally setting first-year goals of completing enough credits for a timely, 4-year, graduation and a B average GPA might be challenging yet attainable goals.