Student Outcome Data

Job Placement for Graduates – View the Career Outlook by Major on the Career Services website.

Retention Rate

Bemidji State University is pleased to provide the following information regarding our institution’s retention rate for certificate-seeking or degree-seeking, first-time undergraduate students. This information is provided in compliance with the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. The rate reflects the retention of students who first enrolled in the Fall 2017 semester and continued their enrollment in the Fall 2018 semester. The retention rate is 71.6%.

Student Right-To-Know 

What is Student Right-To-Know?

Student Right-To-Know is a federal law that requires all colleges and universities to disclose certain information to students. This handout provides the information that a university must provide to students on graduation rates and transfer-out rates for full-time students seeking degrees at Bemidji State University (BSU).

What is a graduation rate and what is a transfer-out rate?

Federal regulations specify how to calculate the graduation and transfer rates. The rates come from a study of Bemidji State University students who started at the university in the fall of 2013. The study includes all first-time students who enrolled full-time that fall and were seeking to earn a degree at the university. The graduation rate is the percentage of these students who graduated from BSU within six years. The transfer-out rate is the percentage of these students who did not graduate from BSU, but instead transferred to another college or university within six years.

What do I need to know about these rates?

These rates do not report on all students at Bemidji State University. The 818 first-time, full-time students in the study were 17 percent of all undergraduate students enrolled at BSU in fall of 2013.

What are the graduation and transfer-out rates for Bemidji State University students and how do they compare to rates for other universities?

• The graduation rate for BSU was 48 percent.
• The transfer-out rate for BSU was 35 percent.
• The combination of the graduation rate and the transfer-out rate for BSU was 83 percent. The national average combined rate for similar universities was 75 percent.

Why don’t more Bemidji State University students graduate or transfer in six years?

• Some students take jobs before they graduate;
• Students who switch from full-time to part-time enrollment or “stop out” for one or more semesters are more likely to take more than six years to graduate;
• Other students delay their education for personal, family or financial reasons.

Disaggregated Student Right-to-Know Graduation and Transfer-out Rates
Bemidji State University	Graduation Rate	Transfer-out Rate	Combined Rate
Total Cohort	48%	35%	83%
Race Ethnicity
American Indian or Alaska Native	19%	38%	57%
Asian	*	*	*
Black or African American	*	*	*
Hispanic of any race	28%	44%	72%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	*	*	*
Nonresident Alien	*	*	*
Two or more races	28%	52%	79%
Unknown race and ethnicity	*	*	*
White	49%	35%	84%
Gender
Female	52%	34%	86%
Male	43%	36%	79%
Financial Aid
Pell Grant Recipient	42%	37%	79%
Received neither Pell nor Subsidized Stafford Loans	55%	31%	87%
Received Subsidized Stafford Loans, but no Pell	42%	39%	81%

* Suppressed to protect student privacy.

Due to rounding, percentages may not always appear to add up.

Questions related to this report should be directed to:

Office of Research and Effectiveness
Phone: (218)755-2764