Why do students leave HFC? A new report provides insights

The HFC Office of Institutional Research and Reporting recently published a study, Leavers from 16/FA. "Leavers" are sometimes called "stopouts."

The report's executive summary:

Slightly over one-third of the students enrolled at Henry Ford College during the Fall 2016 term left within one year after first enrolling without earning a certificate or degree. Although some of these students successfully moved on to a four-year university, three-quarters of them left to enroll at a competing two-year institution, or – and much more frequently – dropped out of postsecondary education altogether.

Surprisingly, those students who left postsecondary education altogether completed an average of 26 institutional credits with a GPA of 2.2. Those who left to attend a different two-year college averaged 27 institutional credits with a 2.2 GPA.

Other observations include a disproportion between the ethnic makeup of the cohort and their outcomes. For example, proportionally more White students transfer to four-year institutions than Black/African American students, and proportionally more Black/African American students left postsecondary education altogether than their White counterparts.

Another surprising outcome that emerged was that more than 74% of the dual enrolled students who left HFC transferred to a four-year university. Hopefully these and other nuggets of information therein can aid in our dialogue of policy and practice.

Questions about the report should be referred to Rick Michalski, remichalski@hfcc.edu