Salem College is committed to student achievement. As part of our accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), we have set the following criteria and goals to measures student success and achievement, and report updated outcome annually.

The majority of Salem College students are undergraduate, traditional-aged, residential students who begin their college education here and plan to graduate in four years. We have set our key outcome for student achievement as the graduation rate for this group, using the six-year graduation rate to allow for unexpected events.

Criterion #1 Full-time first year students will complete their degree in a timely fashion.

• Goal: 75% of full-time first year students will graduate within six years.
• Outcome: 56% of the full-time first-year students who began at Salem in Fall 2017 graduated within six years.

This is within 10% of the median of our peer comparison group. We are also committed to serving the needs of students who are historically disadvantaged for college success, who make up a substantial portion of our student population, so we also set goals for student achievement for those groups in particular.

Criterion #1.1 Students with financial need will persist and graduate.

• Goal: 65% of Pell Grant recipients will graduate within six years.
• Outcome: 52% of the full-time first-year Pell recipients who began at Salem in Fall 2017 graduated within six years.

This is above the median of our peer comparison group.

Criterion #1.2 Students of color will persist and graduate.

• Goal: 65% of students identifying as Black, Hispanic, or multiple races recipients will graduate within six years.
• Outcomes: 52% of the Black students who began at Salem in Fall 2017 graduated within six years. This is above the median of our peer comparison group.
  52% of the Hispanic students who began at Salem in Fall 2017 graduated within six years. This is above the median of our peer comparison group.
  50% of the multiracial students who began at Salem in Fall 2017 graduated within six years. This is within 20% of the median of our peer comparison group.

A critical step toward graduation is that first-year students return for their second (sophomore) year of study. Returning to the institution for another year is called the “retention rate”. The retention rate of full-time first-year students is one of the most important metrics of student success for an institution of higher education.

Criterion #2 Full-time first-year students will return for their second year of study.

• Goal: 75% of full-time first-year students who intended to major in our STEM disciplines will return for their second year.
• Outcome: 68% of the full-time first-year students who began at Salem in Fall 2023 returned for their second year of study.

This is above our rolling average for full-time first-year retention over the previous five years.

Students demonstrate continued progress toward graduation as they return for additional years of study after each summer break, known as the Spring to Fall retention rate.

Criterion #3 Undergraduate students persist from Spring to Fall each year (students who graduate in May or August are included as persisting).

• Goal: 90% of undergraduate students.
• Outcome: 77% of undergraduate students enrolled in Spring 2022 returned for Fall 2023. This was within 10% of Salem’s rolling average for persistence by undergraduate students over the previous five years.