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Student Achievement Measures

The University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) identifies, evaluates, and publishes goals and outcomes for student achievement appropriate to the institution's mission, the nature of the students it serves, and the kinds of programs offered. The institution uses multiple measures to document student success. As a public institution, the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL) evaluates its success of student achievement on an ongoing basis, based on its strategic plan and mission. These four goals are aligned with Educational Attainment, one of the four themes of the strategic plan, and they are aligned with UHCL's mission to place "its highest priority on serving a diverse body of students in every aspect of their university experience."

Goal 1:  Graduation Rates

Outcome #1

Source:  THECB LBB, Outcome 1, 6
Outcome #1 Criteria Target Results
Increase graduation rates. Track six-year and four-year graduation rates for first-time in college, full-time, degree seeking students. 60% of FTIC students will graduate in six years; 60% of FTIC students will graduate in four years. The 6-year and 4-year periods ending in 2024, we have seen progress to 51.63% & 26.41% over the rates in 2023. These are still below the 60% threshold. The effects of COVID-19 prevented many small cohorts from completing their programs on time and is a concern being addressed. Academic advising and student success initiatives are working on improvements across the campus to continue this trend toward the 60% target.

Six-Year Grad Rates

UDGD, First Time in College, Full-Time, Degree-Seeking

Students Cohort Fall 2014 (2020) Cohort Fall 2015 (2021) Cohort Fall 2016 (2022) Cohort Fall 2017 (2023) Cohort Fall 2018 (2024)
White 55.21 55.45 53.16 59.34 46.24
Black or African American  25.00 66.67 50.00 36.36 50.00
Hispanic 50.72 44.87 55.10 42.22 54.84
Asian American 57.14 54.17 56.00 59.26 58.82
Other 54.55 69.23 44.44 46.67 50.00
Female 56.62 58.68 61.29 55.24 58.78
Male 42.42 46.73 44.66 43.96 43.48
Total 51.98 53.07 53.74 50.85 51.63

Four-Year Grad Rate

UDGD, First Time in College, Full-Time, Degree-Seeking

Students Cohort Fall 2016 (2020) Cohort Fall 2017 (2021) Cohort Fall 2018 (2022) Cohort Fall 2019 (2023) Cohort Fall 2020 (2024)
White 30.38 27.47 30.11 20.69 19.48
Black or African American 31.25 18.18 40.00 18.18 40.00
Hispanic 32.65 20.00 34.41 25.42 23.70
Asian American 8.00 44.44 32.35 27.27 41.67
Other 22.22 26.67 50.00 29.41 27.27
Female 33.06 28.67 37.40 31.47 32.08
Male 23.30 21.98 29.57 15.45 19.20
Total 28.63 34.57 33.74 24.06 26.41

Outcome #2

Source: THECB LBB, Outcome 33, 38
Outcome #2 Criteria Target Results
Increase graduation rates. Track six-year and four-year transfer graduation rates. 60% of transfer students will graduate in six years; 60% of transfer students will graduate in four years. The six-year graduation rate for transfer students was 69.06%. The four-year graduation rate was 60.75%. Both represent a small decrease from the prior year. This is above the target and is a metric that we closely monitor in each academic college. Colleges are working on action plans for 2024-2025 for graduation rate improvements.

Six-Year Grad Rate

UDGD, First Time Transfer, Full-Time, Degree-Seeking

 
Students Cohort Fall 2014 (2020) Cohort Fall 2015 (2021) Cohort Fall 2016 (2022) Cohort Fall 2017 (2023) Cohort Fall 2018 (2024)
White 72.38 70.82 72.51 69.32 70.03
Black or African American 65.63 56.67 72.22 66.67 71.43
Hispanic 76.47  72.82 67.00 75.81 69.34
Asian American 80.00  86.96 82.14 72.50 72.22
Other 68.85 45.65 69.77 71.79 53.66
Female 77.48  71.61 73.96 74.07 74.42
Male 65.32 65.98 66.67 67.71 61.39
Total 73.18 69.48 70.94 71.89 69.06

Four-Year Grad Rate

UDGD, First Time Transfer, Full-Time, Degree-Seeking

 
Students Cohort Fall 2016 (2020) Cohort Fall 2017 (2021) Cohort Fall 2018 (2022) Cohort Fall 2019 (2023) Cohort Fall 2020 (2024)
White 68.73 62.88 66.25 66.56 61.45
Black or African American 66.67 63.33 69.64 50.00 39.39
Hispanic 64.00 70.97 64.81 63.49 63.14
Asian American 78.57 70.00 66.67 70.49 61.54
Other 67.44 66.67 43.90 68.00 69.05
Female 70.91 69.39 70.97 67.79 65.28
Male 62.35 61.43 55.78 59.58 50.83
Total 67.37 66.67 64.72 64.70 60.75

Goal 2: Retention Rates

Outcome #1

Source:  THECB LBB, Outcome 43
Outcome #1 Criteria Target Results
Promote student retention. Track on-year retention rates for FTIC students and for transfer students. 83% of transfer and 79% of FTIC students will be retained after one year (the goal for retention is set annually at the mean for the last 6 years plus the standard deviation). In 2024, transfer students (79.54%) were retained and FTIC student retention dropped slightly (73.82%) and both fell short of the target. Colleges and student success initiatives are working on action plans for 2024-2025 for retention improvements.

One-Year Retention Rate

Outcome #2

Source:  IPEDS Retention Report
Outcome #2 Criteria Target Results
Promote student retention. Compare retention rate with national peers, per IPEDS. UHCL will be in the top five of the 10-member UHCL National Peer Group. UHCL's 67% retention rate placed it tied for fifth in the group of 10 national peer institutions. Four universities reported lower rates (56% to 66%) and four universities reported higher rates (72% to 85%).
Source:  IPEDS Retention Report
IPEDS Unit ID
UHCL National Peer Group Institution Name
Full-time
Retention
Rate, 2021
Full-time Retention Rate, 2022
165820 Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg MA 68 72
145336 Governors State University, University Park IL 48 56
151342 Indiana University-South Bend, South Bend IN 54 66
224147 Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi TX 55 63
161873 University of Baltimore, Baltimore MD 68 60
126580 University of Colorado, Colorado Springs CO 67 67
225414 University of Houston-Clear Lake, Houston TX 74 67
148654 University of Illinois at Springfield, Springfield IL 67 76
171137 University of Michigan- Dearborn, Dearborn MI 84 82
138354 University of West Florida, Pensacola FL 84 85

Goal 3: Course Completion Rates

Source:  THECB LBB, Outcome 16
Outcome #1 Criteria Target Results
Improve course completion rates. Track the percentage of semester credit hours completed over the number attempted. UHCL seeks to improve its course completion rates by surpassing the average plus the standard deviation, which would be 95.77% completion. The 2024 rate (95.4%) was only slight below target yet is similar to the previous year (which was an increase). The percentage of courses completed has increased as compared to the pre-pandemic levels. Leadership is discussing expected targets as completion above 95% may be more appropriate for our institution.


Goal 4:  Licensing Examinations

Source: TSBPA website
Outcome #1 Criteria Target Results
Ensure UHCL students will be prepared for professional practice. Track passing rates of the Universal CPA Exam over three years. UHCL will be in the top half of comparison of THECB Master's University Peer Group. 240 UHCL students tested on 259 sections of the Uniform CPA examination in 2023, and passed 35% of those sections. This places UHCL 6th when compared to 10 members of the THECB's Master's University Peer Group.
THECB Master's University Peer Group
#  of 
Candidates
Tested
# of
Sections
Tested
# of
Sections
Passed
% of
Sections
Passed
Angelo State University 67 70 32 45.71
Midwestern State University 44 47 20 42.55
Texas A&M University - Central Texas 15 15 5 33.33
Texas A&M University - Texarkana         7 7 2 28.57
University of Houston - Clear Lake 240 259 91 35.14
University of Houston - Downtown 321 328 62 18.90
University of Houston - Victoria 93 95 35 36.84
University of North Texas at Dallas 31 32 12 37.50
University of Texas - Permian Basin 113 118 27 22.88
University of Texas - Tyler   98 102 60 58.81
Source: TSBPA website
Outcome #2 Criteria Target Results
Ensure UHCL students will be prepared for professional practice. Track passing rates of the Universal CPA Exam over three years. Maintain a ratio of at least 6.0 for Number of CPA Exam Candidates from July of Year X+1 through June of Year X+2/Number of Accounting MS Graduates from September of Year X. In 2023, UHCL reported that 240 students sat for the CPA exam for a ratio of 5:3.
UHCL Student Testing Statistics
# of
Candidates
Tested
# of
Sections
Tested
# of
Sections
Passed
% of
Sections
Passed
2023 240 259 91 35.14%
2022 158 166 67 40.36%
2021 150 157 51 32.48%
2020 144 151 65 43.05%
2019 197 225 91 40.44%
2018 221 272 110 40.44%
2017 261 330 121 36.67%

 

Contact

  • Institutional Research

    Phone: 281-283-3005
    Email: ir@uhcl.edu

    Bayou Building 2120
    2700 Bay Area Blvd, Box 80
    Houston, TX 77058-1002