The National Student Clearinghouse Announces Cameron Watt as New Vice President of Sales for Education Solutions

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The National Student Clearinghouse Announces Cameron Watt as New Vice President of Sales for Education Solutions

HERNDON, VA – (JULY 28, 2023) – The National Student Clearinghouse announced today that Cameron Watt will join as the new Vice President of Sales for Education Solutions. In his new role, Cameron will work to build and expand relationships with the Clearinghouse’s nationwide customer base. He will also develop and execute a comprehensive sales and business development strategy to expand the adoption of new education solutions nationwide.

“The Clearinghouse is pleased to welcome Cameron as an integral member of our leadership team,” said Chris Goodson, Chief Growth Officer, of the National Student Clearinghouse. “Cameron has strong leadership skills and a wealth of experience at the nexus of business, cloud technologies, data, and education. His dedication to developing people and teams and his deep experience with the education community will be invaluable to the Clearinghouse and to advancing our mission.”

“I am very excited to join the Clearinghouse, continuing my 25-year career working with the higher ed community,” said Cameron. “This is a fantastic opportunity to leverage my higher ed technology and data experience with a growing organization that has a trusted, 30-year track record serving its stakeholders. I look forward to working with the Clearinghouse team to expand the footprint of existing services and develop new services that help our education partners advance their mission.”

Before joining the National Student Clearinghouse, Cameron served as the Education Sales Director-Northeast at Snowflake, a data cloud solution for organizations looking to store, manage, and leverage their data. He previously was the head of State and Local Government- Northeast for Google Cloud and also spent over six years at Amazon Web Services managing the Enterprise higher ed business across the U.S. Cameron additionally worked at Microsoft for 10 years in various education-related roles including, East Education Sales Manager (K-20).

Cameron received his B.A. in Political Science from Alfred University and his Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.

About the National Student Clearinghouse^®

The National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit formed in 1993, is the trusted source for and leading provider of higher education verifications and electronic education record exchanges. Besides working with nearly 3,600 postsecondary institutions, the Clearinghouse also provides thousands of high schools and districts with continuing collegiate enrollment, progression, and completion statistics on their alumni. Education partners throughout the nation trust the National Student Clearinghouse because they know we take our commitment to student privacy very seriously. We focus on serving our customers with high-quality services that they expect from us. The Clearinghouse is scrupulous in its concern for student privacy and compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which protects students’ privacy rights in their education records. For more details, visit studentclearinghouse.org.

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Nearly 76% of Fall 2021 Freshman Class Returned to College by Fall 2022

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Nearly 76% of Fall 2021 Freshman Class Returned to College by Fall 2022

This Persistence Rate Represents a Return to Pre-Pandemic Levels

HERNDON, VA – (JULY 27, 2023) – Of the 2.4 million students who entered college for the first time in the fall of 2021, 75.7 percent persisted at any U.S. institution by fall 2022, according to a new report released today from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. This persistence rate is 0.9 percentage points above the previous cohort and matches the pre-pandemic average for the 2016 to 2018 freshman classes.

The 2023 Persistence and Retention report found that 67.2 percent of fall 2021 entering students were retained at their starting institution for their second year or earned a credential at that institution within a year of enrollment, a rate 0.5 percentage points above the pre-pandemic average. An additional 8.6 percent transferred out and continued enrollment at another institution by their second fall. This transfer-out rate was essentially flat compared to the previous cohort, meaning that gains in persistence among fall 2021 college starters were driven by the higher share remaining at their starting institution into their second year.

“It is very encouraging to see that the students who entered college in the second year of the pandemic have stayed enrolled at higher rates,” said Doug Shapiro, Executive Director of the Research Center. “The 0.9 pp recovery from the suppressed persistence level of those who started in fall 2020 means nearly 22,000 more students are still in college today.”

Not all institution sectors saw persistence and retention improvements. While community colleges, as well as public and private nonprofit four-year institutions, saw increases in both persistence and retention rates this year, private for-profit four-year colleges and primarily associate degree-granting baccalaureate (PAB) institutions experienced declines. This marks the second consecutive year that community colleges saw gains, approaching levels of persistence and retention not seen since the 2018 entering class. Nonetheless, the community college freshman class continued to shrink in fall 2021 while freshman enrollment recovered to pre-pandemic levels in other sectors.

As more people sought short-term, skilled trade credentials in fall 2021, the share of certificate seekers who earned a credential in their first year or persisted into their second fall increased across the top skilled trade majors by enrollment—mechanic and repair technologies, precision production, construction trades, and personal and culinary services. Health care majors’ persistence and retention rates improved at all credential levels, but enrollment in these majors was flat among bachelor’s degree seekers and declined among other undergraduates. Computer science, which witnessed double-digit enrollment growth, has also seen increases in persistence and retention among freshmen at all credential levels.

Nationally, retention rates increased regardless of enrollment intensity, while persistence increased only for full-time students and held steady for part-time students. Public two-year institutions were the only sector to experience increases in both full-time and part-time persistence. Both persistence and retention rates declined for part-time students at public and private for-profit four-year institutions, as well as at PABs.

Disparities by race and ethnicity remain large, with a 26-percentage point persistence rate gap between the highest (88.4% for Asian students) and the lowest (62.1% for Native American students). Of note, Native American student persistence and retention increased after sharp decreases last year. Latinx persistence and retention increased in all sectors except for PABs.

Gender-related disparities were stable at the national level compared to last year’s cohort: Persistence and retention rates for female students are nearly 3 percentage points higher than those of their male peers. However, the magnitude of this gender disparity differs by sector. Public four-year institutions have the smallest gender disparity in both persistence and retention, while private for-profit four-year institutions have the largest.

In terms of age, persistence and retention rates held steady or increased this year for starters 20 years old or younger, leading to a 1.4-percentage point increase in both rates nationally for this group. In contrast, rates for older students fell. Those 21 to 24 lost roughly one percentage point, driven by marked declines in persistence and retention at public and private nonprofit four-year institutions that nearly erased last year’s gains. Those 25 and older experienced larger declines in both rates regardless of sector.

The Persistence and Retention report series examines first-year persistence and retention rates for first-time college students. This annual report helps institutions understand trends and disparities in this important early success indicator by institutional type, state, credential type, starting enrollment intensity, major, and student demographic characteristics such as age, gender, and race/ethnicity. This year’s report includes a new data dashboard to enable viewers to analyze, visualize, and interact with the longitudinal data, which are also available for download.

About the National Student Clearinghouse^® Research Center™

The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is the research arm of the National Student Clearinghouse. The Research Center collaborates with higher education institutions, states, school districts, high schools, and educational organizations as part of a national effort to better inform education leaders and policymakers. Through accurate longitudinal data outcomes reporting, the Research Center enables better educational policy decisions leading to improved student outcomes. To learn more, visit nscresearchcenter.org.

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