The past six months have been unprecedented in obvious and disheartening ways, but there also have been some very encouraging precedents. To begin, we achieved our highest ever graduation rate in 2020, as the metric climbed from 14% just a few years ago to 23% for current graduating class. Likewise, we appear to have set an all-time high for our 1-year retention rate, at over 78%, one year after setting our previous record for retention. Further improvements to the graduation rate are imperative, and more work is needed to maintain student persistence beyond the first year, but both markers demonstrate a positive trajectory, and both are a testament to the efforts of the entire campus to improve student learning and success.

We also continue to grow. The pandemic has stemmed the rate of growth that we enjoyed with continuing students in recent years, but we still have increased enrollments at a time when many institutions are grappling with significant decreases. Our incoming freshman class grew to 505 students, despite a substantive decrease in the number of students enrolling with a HS GPA below 2.5 (due to the new admissions standard). Similarly, we are witnessing an even larger proportional jump in our transfer enrollments, as this population climbed from 411 students in 2019 to 443 (so far) in 2020. Perhaps more important than the growth is the profile of who those students represent, as we welcomed significant increases in diverse populations (e.g., African American students), high-achieving high school students, and critical academic programs (e.g., education, biology). As you may have heard, our most dramatic growth has occurred with our dual credit population, which skyrocketed from 1,119 students last year to 2,607 in fall 2020. This growth is critical at a time when our headcount for continuing students grew by a shade under 3%. Perhaps more importantly, it is an enormous population of prospective students, many of whom will help shape NSC’s future.  

All things considered, thanks to the many efforts of our faculty, students, and staff, it is a hopeful outlook for an institution in the face of a historic challenge.