Compliance & Student Right to Know

This section contains Federal and State compliance reports that are produced by the Office of Institutional Research and Data Management. These include reports address the federal Higher Education Act of 1965 as amended in 2008, the Louisiana GRAD Act, and Louisiana House Concurrent Resolutions.See UNO's Institutional Compliance Program for all campus initiatives.

Contents
• Completion and Graduation Rates
• Diversity
• Retention
• Graduate and Professional Education
• Retention

State Compliance

Louisiana Legislative Compliance
The Legislative Session passed House Concurrent Resolutions requiring universities and their management boards to provide specific information.

Federal Compliance - "Student Right to Know" Higher Education Act of 1965

HEA items prepared and maintained by IRDM

- Completion and Graduation Rates (HEA Item 25)
- Diversity (HEA Item 8)
- Graduate and Professional Education (HEA Item 29)
- Retention (HEA Item 24)
- Transfer (HEA Item 25)
- See UNO Compliance web for links to additional HEA items

Completion/Graduation rates (HEA Item 25)
Institutions are required to disclose the completion or graduation rates of certificate- or degree-seeking, first-time, full-time, undergraduate students by July 1 of each year for the most recent cohort that has had 150 percent of normal time for completion by August 31 of the prior year. This information is collected in the IPEDS Graduation Rate Survey (GRS). The following charts comply with requirements for the Student Right to Know and the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended.

Some students graduate in 4 years but many take 5 or 6 yearsor more to earn degrees. The most frequently cited graduation rate is the IPEDS 6-year graduation rate which tracks a specific cohort of students and records their graduation status at 150% time or 6 years. Once set, cohort can be modified only for very few reasons. This rate does not include students who transfer to (and graduate from) another institution. This cohort is tracked to determine the graduation status at the same institution within 150% time (6 years).

Things to know about 6-year graduation data:

• Official graduation rates are based on an entering Fall cohort composed of first-time, full-time, degree-seeking freshmen. The cohort is identified as of the 14th day of class.
• These freshmen must be enrolled in a college for the first time in the Fall Semester with provisions for Summer.
• They must be full time - at UNO this means enrolled for 12 hours or more.
• They must be degree-seeking.
• This cohort is tracked to determine the graduation status within 150% time (6 years)

Some freshmen are not eligible to be in the cohort:

• Part-time freshmen are NOT part of the cohort.
• New freshmen who enrolled in Spring are NOT part of the cohort.
• Freshmen who transfer into UNO are NOT part of the cohort.
• Freshmen who do not enter as degree-seeking are NOT part of the cohort.
• Rates do NOT include any who take longer than 6 years to graduate.
• Rates do NOT include those who leave to serve in the armed forces or official church missions.
• Rates do NOT include those who transfer and graduate from another college.

IPEDS Graduation Rates. See green column for 6 -Year Rates (updated Fall 2012)
Data are cumulating.

Diversity of the Student Body (HEA Item 8)
Institutions are required to provide information about student body diversity, including the percentage of enrolled, full-time students in the following categories: male, female, self-identified major racial or ethnic group, and Federal Pell Grant recipients. Race/ethnicity/gender information is collected in the IPEDS Fall Enrollment Survey. Pell Grant recipient information is collected for the prior year in the IPEDS Student Financial Aid Survey. Students are to be considered to have received a grant or loan if they received it [for] the period used for determining the cohort − fall term or full year.

Click here for detailed information with disaggregated full-time undergraduate enrollment rates by gender, race/ethnicity and Federal Pell Grant recipient.

Graduate and Professional Education (HEA Item 29)
Graduate students enrolled for Fall 2012 who also received UNO baccalaureate degrees.
Students with degrees from other institutions are not included.

Retention Rates

Retention rates (HEA Item 24)
Institutions must make available to current and prospective students the retention rate of certificate- or degree-seeking, first-time, undergraduate students as reported to IPEDS in the annual IPEDS Fall Enrollment Survey. Retention rates are based on the percentage of IPEDS freshmen cohort enrolled for a Fall semester who return the following Fall. This is referred to as 1st-to-2nd year retention or second year retention.

Things to know about IPEDS retention rates:

• Students could transfer to another college. They would NOT be counted.
• Students could skip Fall semester and return for Spring semester. They would NOT be counted.
• Students could drop out of college. They would NOT be counted.
  

Transfer Out Rates (HEA Item 25)

An institution whose mission includes providing substantial preparation for students to enroll in another Title IV, HEA-eligible institution must disclose a transfer-out rate for each cohort. Although this is not UNO's mission, this information is available from Louisiana Board of Regents. UNO's Registrar is aware that a student sends a transcript to another institution but is not notified when (or if) the student actually enrolls at another institution. Regents has the ability to track transfer students across Louisiana public institutions.

HEA Resources from National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
- - College Navigator
- - IPEDS
- - Publication: "Information Required to Be Disclosed Under the Higher Education Act of 1965"
- - NCES Technical Brief: "Statistical Methods for Protecting Personally Identifiable Information in the Disclosure of Graduation Rates of First-Time, Full-Time Degree- or Certificate-Seeking Undergraduate Students"