Cleveland State University - Office of Institutional Research and Analysis

A Cohort group provides the ability to perform analysis on a set of students with similar characteristics in terms of their academic status. This allows an institution to measure attributes such as retention and demographics on a standard group of students. As a standard definition, accepted by IPEDS and others, students in a Cohort group are:

first-time
full-time
degree-seeking
starting their program in the summer or fall semester.

Gender Differences

While there was no significant difference is the gender makeup of the overall Cohort group at CSU for the last six fall semesters, there were differences in the gender makeup within ethnic groups during each of those years. (See Figure 1.) Most notably, there were significantly more Black females than Black males in the Cohort group (all six years) as well as more White males than White females (five of the six years). (The shaded cells indicate the presence of statistically significant differences in gender.)

Figure 1.
Differences in Cohort Enrollment by Gender (p < .05)

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Asian/Pacific Islander	F:37.0% M:63.0% n=27	F:46.7% M:53.3% n=15	F:44.8% M:55.2% n=29	F:39.4% M:60.6% N=33	F:45.5% M:54.5% n=33	F:51.4% M:48.6% n=35
Black	F:67.3% M:32.7% n=199	F:60.2% M:39.8% n=176	F:62.8% M:37.2% n=207	F:61.5% M:38.5% n=218	F:63.1% M:36.9% n=244	F:61.9% M:38.1% n=239
Hispanic	F:59.3% M:40.7% n=27	F:50.0% M:50.0% n=36	F:72.7% M:27.3% N=44	F:50.0% M:50.0%\| n=38	F:57.9% M:42.1% n=38	F:58.8% M:41.2% n=34
Native American	F:--- M:100.0% n=1	F:33.3% M:66.7% n=6	F:16.7% M:83.3% n=6	F:66.7% M:33.3% n=3	F:100.0% M:0.0% n=2	F:50.0% M:50.0% n=2
Non-Resident Alien	F:22.2% M:77.8% n=9	F:22.2% M:77.8% n=9	F:33.3% M:66.7% n=18	F:46.2% M:53.9% n=13	F:40.0% M:60.0% n=10	F:11.1% M:88.9% n=9
Unknown	F:44.4% M:55.6% n=72	F:46.5% M:52.1% n=211*	F:53.0% M:47.0% n=83	F:47.1% M:52.9% n=68	F:47.8% M:52.2% n=67	F:35.7% M:64.3% n=56
White	F:45.8% M:54.3% n=588	F:43.4% M:56.4% n=509*	F:40.5% M:59.5% n=661	F:47.2% M:52.8% n=581	F:43.0% M:57.0% n=614	F:44.7% M:55.3% n=571
Total	F:50.2% M:49.8% n=923	F:47.2% M:52.4% n=962*	F:47.1 M:52.8% n=1048	F:50.4% M:49.6% n=934	F:48.9% M:51.1% n=1008	F:48.9% M:51.1% n=946

Notes:
1. Some totals may not equal 100.0% due to rounding error.
2. * includes students with unknown gender

One Year Retention Rate

Student retention is calculated based on students from one semester returning to the University in the following semesters. Figure 2 presents the one-year retention rate for CSU Cohort students from Fall 1997 through Fall 2001. Using the first cell as an example, 81.5% of the 27 Asian/Pacific Islander students in the 1997 Cohort group at CSU returned to take classes in Fall 1998.

Figure 2
Cohort One-Year Retention Rates by Year (1997-2001)

	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Asian/Pacific Islander	81.5% (n=27) F:90.0% M:76.5%	80.0% (n=15) F:85.7% M:75.0%	72.4% (n=29) F:76.9% M:68.8%	72.7% (n=33) F:69.2% M:75.0%	66.7% (n=33) F:60.0% M:72.2%
Black	61.8% (n=199) F:63.4% M:58.5%	55.1% (n=176) F:54.7% M:55.7%	48.8% (n=207) F:48.5% M:49.4%	56.9% (n=218) F:58.2% M:54.8%	52.9% (n=244) F:55.8% M:47.8%
Hispanic	59.3% (n=27) F:56.3% M:63.6%	63.9% (n=36) F:77.8% M:50.0%	38.6% (n=44) F:40.6% M:33.3%	44.7% (n=38) F:42.1% M:47.4%	57.9% (n=38) F:63.6% M:50.0%
Native American	100.0% (n=1) F:--- M:100.0%	66.7% (n=6) F:50.0% M:75.0%	83.3% (n=6) F:100.0% M:80.0%	66.7% (n=3) F:50.0% M:100.0%	50.0% (n=2) F:50.0% M:---
Non-Resident Alien	55.5% (n=9) F:50.0% M:57.1%	55.6% (n=9) F:50.0% M:57.1%	72.2% (n=18) F:100.0% M:58.3%	84.6% (n=13) F:83.3% M:85.7%	40.0% (n=10) F:75.0% M:16.7%
Unknown	72.2% (n=72) F:78.1% M:67.5%	64.4% (n=211) F:64.3% M:64.5%	65.1% (n=83) F:65.9% M:64.1%	69.1% (n=68) F:71.9% M:66.7%	61.2% (n=67) F:68.8% M:54.3%
White	67.2% (n=588) F:66.9% M:67.4%	59.1% (n=509) F:56.1% M:61.7%	63.4 (n=661) F:68.3% M:60.1%	69.2% (n=561) F:72.8% M:65.9%	67.4% (n=514) F:72.0% M:64.0%
Total	66.5% (n=923) F:66.7% M:66.3%	60.1% (n=962) F:58.8% M:61.3%	60.1% (n=1048) F:61.7% M:58.7%	65.6% (n=934) F:67.3% M:83.9%	62.8% (n=1008) F:65.9 M:59.8%

News: Characteristics of the CSU Cohort