Graduation Rate Calculation

1. Purpose & Regulatory Background

This document specifies the exact data the program must retrieve and display in order to calculate and publish UMF's institutional graduation rates. Compliance with the following agencies requires this reporting:

2. The Graduation Rate Formula

The official formula as required by IPEDS is:

Breaking this down for the programmer:

• Numerator — students in the revised cohort who completed their program on or before August 31 of the reporting year, within 150% of normal program length.
• Denominator — the Revised Cohort size, minus the count of students who qualify for an Allowable Exclusion (see Section 3.3).

Both the Revised Cohort and the Completers count have specific rules governing who is included. These are detailed in Sections 3 and 4.

3. Cohort Definitions

3.1 Initial Cohort

The initial cohort is all first-time, degree-seeking students who enrolled at UMF in a given fall semester.

3.2 Revised Cohort (Adjusted Cohort)

The Revised Cohort is derived from the Initial Cohort by applying two required removals:

3.3 Allowable Exclusions

The following students may be removed from the denominator of the formula. They are not counted against the graduation rate. Each exclusion must be documented in the student record.

4. Maximum Time Frame (MTF) & Completion Windows

4.1 What is Maximum Time Frame?

Each program must be calculated at its Maximum Time Frame (MTF), which is 150% of the normal program length, measured in credits:

Example: A 45-credit program has an MTF of 45 × 1.5 = 67.5 credits.

Count all completions on or before August 31 of the reporting year.

4.2 IPEDS Reporting Components — Undergraduate

The following cohorts must be tracked for undergraduate-level programs. FTFT = Full-Time First-Time students.

4.3 Graduate-Level Programs

For master's degree programs, the average program length is 2 years. Apply the same 150% MTF logic:

5. CampusOS Data Requirements

The following tables describe the data the program must pull from CampusOS. Confirm all table and field names with your database administrator before development.

5.1 Student Enrollment Record

Used to identify the Initial Cohort. Pull one row per student per program enrollment.

5.2 Student Demographic Record

Required for disaggregated reporting by gender and race/ethnicity.

5.3 Student Status / Withdrawal Record

Used to identify allowable exclusions and transfer-out removals for the Revised Cohort.

5.4 Completion / Graduation Record

Used to count completers within the Maximum Time Frame.

5.5 Program Reference Table

Needed to determine the MTF credit threshold for each program.

6. Calculation Logic (Pseudocode)

The following pseudocode summarizes the full calculation. Implement this logic for each degree level, and then again for each disaggregation group (gender, race/ethnicity).

-- ── STEP 1: Build Initial Cohort ─────────────────────────────────────────────
SELECT students
WHERE  enrollment_type = 'First-Time'
AND    entry_term      = [target fall cohort semester]
AND    degree_level    = [UG | GR | CE]
-- Result: INITIAL COHORT

-- ── STEP 2: Build Revised Cohort (remove transfers) ──────────────────────────
REMOVE FROM initial cohort WHERE:
   enrollment_type = 'Transfer'
   OR transfer_credits_accepted > 0

REMOVE FROM initial cohort WHERE:
   withdrawal_reason = 'Transfer Out'
-- Result: REVISED COHORT

-- ── STEP 3: Identify Allowable Exclusions ────────────────────────────────────
FLAG students WHERE withdrawal_reason IN:
   ('Deceased', 'Permanent Disability', 'Church Mission',
    'Military Service', 'Foreign Aid Service')
-- These are EXCLUDED from the denominator (not removed from cohort entirely)

-- ── STEP 4: Calculate Denominator ───────────────────────────────────────────
DENOMINATOR = COUNT(revised cohort) - COUNT(allowable exclusions)

-- ── STEP 5: Count Completers (Numerator) ─────────────────────────────────────
SELECT completions WHERE:
   student_id IN (revised cohort, excluding allowable exclusions)
   AND completion_date <= August 31 of [reporting year]
   AND credits_completed <= program.mtf_credits    -- within 150% time
NUMERATOR = COUNT(above)

-- ── STEP 6: Calculate Rate ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
GRADUATION RATE = (NUMERATOR / DENOMINATOR) * 100
Round to 1 decimal place.

-- ── STEP 7: Repeat Disaggregated ─────────────────────────────────────────────
Repeat Steps 1-6 filtered by:
   a. Each degree_level  (UG, GR, CE)
   b. Each gender value
   c. Each race_ethnicity value

7. Display Requirements

The program must display graduation rates in the following views. All rates must be published on the institutional outcomes page.

7.1 Institutional Overall Rates

• Display one overall graduation rate for the institution.
• Display separately for each degree level: Undergraduate, Graduate, Certificate.
• For undergraduate, display all three IPEDS components: GR (100%), GR150 (150%), GR200 (200%).

7.2 Disaggregated Views

For each rate above, also display rates broken down by the following categories:

7.3 Required Data Elements Per Displayed Rate

Each graduation rate card or row displayed in the program must show:

8. Key Policies Required

The following institutional policies must be in place for this system to work accurately. The developer should confirm these departure/withdrawal codes are actively maintained in CampusOS:

9. Open Questions for Developer

The following items should be confirmed with the Registrar and/or Database Administrator before development begins:

Questions about this specification? Contact the Registrar's Office or Institutional Research.  |  UMF – Confidential Internal Use  |  Version 1.0, May 2026