Educational Goal Achievement

What Are the Educational Goals of NMC Students?

On average, about half of the students enrolled in academic courses reported that their primary educational goal was to transfer credits to a four-year college or university. Another third of the survey respondents intend primarily to earn a degree or certificate from NMC. Of those students with the goal to transfer or to earn a degree or certificate, about 95% reported that they were on track for achieving their educational goal.

Transfer Achievement

Graduate Achievement

Accomplishing Their Goal

A learner’s primary educational goal and whether she is on track for accomplishing that goal are self-reported on several institutional surveys. The Learner Group One and the Service Effectiveness surveys are administered to students enrolled in academic courses. Each survey is administered to a representative sample with a confidence interval of +-5%.

In 2004, about 47% of the respondents to these surveys (results aggregated) identified transfer as their primary educational goal, about 35% reported that earning an NMC degree or certificate was their primary educational goal. In 2005, about 55% of the respondents to the Learner Group One survey reported transfer as their primary educational goal, and 30% said they wanted to earn an NMC degree or certificate.

Leavers

“Leavers” refers to students that were once enrolled at NMC but have not re-enrolled for various reasons. Several institutional surveys measure the experiences of former students, including the Non-Returning student survey, the Graduate Follow-Up Survey, and the Transfer Student Survey. In 2004, 70% of the respondents to the Non-Returning Student survey indicated that they had left NMC because they accomplished their educational goal. All of those students had the primary educational goal of either transfer or to earn a degree or certificate. The 30% that reported that they did not accomplish their primary goal had the goal of to take courses for personal interest or to learn skills for a job. The top most important reasons for why a person left NMC before accomplishing his educational goal were:

• To take a break from college
• Family commitments
• Conflict with work schedule
• Financial reasons

Both graduates and transfer students were asked on the 2004 versions of the Graduate Follow-Up Survey and the Transfer Student survey, respectively, the extent to which they agreed that NMC is a good place to meeting one’s learning objectives and educational goals.

NMC is a good place to meet one's learning objectives and educational goals.