James Madison University recorded its highest retention rate since 2013 for freshman undergraduate students who returned to campus for their second year.
The Harrisonburg-based university retained 91.9 percent of its full-time undergraduate students, which puts JMU among the highest in the nation for similar size public schools. This is a 1.7 percent increase over the 2022 rate.
“The increased retention rate and closing success gaps reflects good progress since committing to increase retention rates with the Quality Enhancement Plan in 2020,” said Bob Kolvoord, JMU’s interim provost. “Importantly, we must not take this increase for granted and continue to work toward improving student success and retention for all students at JMU.”
First-generation college students had an 89.7 percent retention rate in 2023, a 5 percent increase since 2019. While this is still below the overall 91.9 percent retention rate, the success gap between first-generation and all JMU students has been cut in half from 4.4 percent in 2019 to 2.2 percent in 2023.
“JMU invested in a broader initiative to support first-generation college students, and it’s been wonderful to see how these efforts galvanized our team and created even more momentum when designing programs and services,” said Dr. Rudy Molina, vice provost for student academic success.
Molina also said JMU has seen an increase in the number and diversity of student applications due to the university joining the Common Application program and JMU’s growing national reputation as a Carnegie Classification R2 research institution and member of the Sun Belt Conference.
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Crystal Graham
