Student Achievement Goals

Student Achievement Goals & Outcomes

True to its mission, Mars Hill University “challenges and equips students to pursue intellectual, spiritual, and personal growth.”  The university assesses the extent to which students achieve this growth using the following measures: first-year student retention rates, graduation rates, licensure examination outcomes, and post-graduation career outcomes. For certain measures, such as graduation rates, the University has identified a set of ten peer institutions, all of which share commonalities with us, to benchmark our performance against. In 2020, MHU’s Student Achievement Goals were revised to better reflect institutional priorities.

Retention

Goal: Retention rate (Fall to Fall) of First-Time, Full-time, First-Year students of 70% or greater

MHU Retention Rates
Reporting Cycle 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Cohort Year 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
First-Year Retention Rate 57 59 63 63 67 67
First-Year Retention Goal 60 60 60 60 70 74
First Year Retention Median of Peer
Comparison Institutions
61 59 61 63 63 67

Source: IPEDS

Graduation

Goal: Graduation rate at or above the 50th percentile comparison group across demographic groups

MHU 6-Year Graduation Rates

Cohort IPEDS Reporting Year Comparison Group Median Graduation Rate MHU Outcome:
Graduation Rate
Fall 2009 2015-2016 38% 34%, 30th percentile
Fall 2010 2016-2017 38% 34%, 40th percentile
Fall 2011 2017-2018 32% 31%, 30th percentile
Fall 2012 2018-2019 38% 39%, 60th percentile
Fall 2013 2019-2020 40% 30%, 20th percentile
Fall 2014 2020-2021 38% 35%, 40th percentile
Fall 2015 2021-2022 Data not available

Source: IPEDS

Licensure Examination Outcomes

Increase student licensure rates in education and nursing

Education   

Academic Year Achievement Goal Outcome
2020-2021 (2020 Cohort) 95% or higher pass rate in education licensure exams 100% (1 year pass rate)
2019-2020 (2019 Cohort) 95% or higher pass rate in education licensure exams 100% (1 year pass rate)
2018-2019 (2018 Cohort) 100% 100% (only 1 year of data available, 1 year pass rate)
2017-2018 (2017 Cohort) 100% 100% (only 2 years of data available, 2 year pass rate)
2016-2017 (2016 Cohort) 100% 84.21% (3 year pass rate)
2015-2016 (2015 Cohort) 100% 85.19% (3 year pass rate)

Source: Aggregated ETS and Pearson results as reported to the State of North Carolina via the Title II Federal Reporting process and published in the annual EPP Report Card.

Nursing 

Academic Year Achievement Goal Outcome
January 1, 2021-December 31, 2021 NCLEX Registered Nurse pass rate reflecting 95% of a three-year average 68.75%
January 1, 2020-December 31, 2020 NCLEX Registered Nurse pass rate reflecting 95% of a three-year average 66.67%
January 1, 2019-December 31, 2019 100% 65.00%
January 1, 2018-December 31, 2018 (first year of test-takers) 100%  66.67%

Source: North Carolina Board of Nursing

Post-Graduation Career Outcomes

Improve student post-graduation career outcomes.

Where are our graduates now? We received responses to the First Destination Survey from the areas indicated below.


Source: Handshake

Class of May 2022 Post-Graduation Career Outcomes:

The goal for this metric is 92% Placement rate of undergraduate and graduate students and a 75% Response/knowledge rate.

Undergraduate Placements: 66% of undergraduates who responded to our follow-up First Destination Survey report they are employed, enrolled in continuing education, or engaged in volunteer service. Knowledge Rate: 86%

Graduate Placements: 77% of graduate students who responded to our follow-up First Destination Survey report they are employed. Knowledge Rate: 88%


Source: Handshake First Destination Survey and Cothran Center for Career Readiness