A first year cohort is defined as all full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students entering the institution during the fall term. Luther, like all institutions, uses the first-year cohort student count as the basis for calculating persistence and graduation rates reported to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

First-year student cohorts

Transfer student cohorts

Graduation Rates - Higher Education Act

The HEA added a provision requiring that the completion of graduation rates must be disaggregated by

• Gender
• Major racial and ethnic subgroup (as defined in IPEDS)
• Recipients of a Federal Pell Grant
• Recipients of a Subsidized Stafford Loan who did not receive a Pell Grant and
• Students who did not receive either a Pell Grant or a Subsidized Stafford Loan

Graduation rates by gender and racial ethnic subgroups (HEA)

Graduation Rates by Subsidized Stafford Loan and Pell Grant recipients