October Metrics Update Shows Gains in Student Success Measures
NC State’s Four-Year Graduation Rates Reach an All-time High
Lifetime student success is the focus of Goal 1 in NC State’s Wolfpack 2030 strategic plan, with several priority initiatives already underway. NC State has reached a student success milestone, according to the most recent Wolfpack 2030 strategic plan metrics updates.
Specifically, the university’s four-year graduation rate reached 71.2 percent. This four-year graduation rate is the highest achieved so far during the Wolfpack 2030 strategic plan. It also exceeds the target of 69 percent set for the conclusion of the strategic plan.
How strategic plan metrics are maintained:
Institutional Effectiveness (IE) and University Data and Analytics (UDA) collaborate to maintain NC State’s strategic plan metrics and dashboard. IE oversees metric selection and tracks metric progress towards established goals. UDA developed and maintains the Wolfpack 2030 dashboard application and provides the institutional and survey data reflected in it.
Each Wolfpack 2030 metric is updated once a year, either in January, August or October. The recent October metrics update included:
- Enrollment;
- Retention and graduation rates;
- Cooperative education and study abroad;
- Degrees awarded and graduate time to degree;
- Student participation with faculty in extension/public service;
- Student sense of belonging; and
- Student assessment of NC State’s academic reputation influencing enrollment.
More notable highlights from the latest updated metrics:
- NC State’s undergraduate enrollment continues to climb, reaching 29,340 enrolled undergraduates this fall. NC State’s fall 2030 goal for undergraduate enrollment is 30,236 undergraduates.
- Study abroad participation in 2024-25 exceeded pre-pandemic highs, with nearly 1,800 students participating.
Insights from student surveys:
- 78.6 percent of graduating seniors completing the most recent Graduating Senior Survey reported experiencing, either a great deal or somewhat, a sense of belonging or community with NC State overall. That’s the same percentage as the last time the survey was administered, three years ago.
- 85.2 percent of new first-year students completing the most recent Incoming First Year Student Survey reported that NC State’s academic reputation remained either a very strong or strong influence on their decision to attend.
Questions about Wolfpack 2030 or strategic plan metrics? Contact Courtney Thornton, Associate Vice Provost for Strategy, Implementation and Communication, Institutional Effectiveness, at strategic-planning@ncsu.edu.
