When searching for New England College online, there are two statistics that one is presented with immediately, the acceptance and graduation rates. According to numerous online sources, the acceptance rate is between 97-99%, while the graduation rate is between 34-38%.
Dr. Wayne Lesperance has been at NEC for the past 17 years and currently serves as the Vice President of Academic Affairs. He stated that NEC tends to keep an open mind about who they admit, implying that high school grades and test scores do not necessarily make or break admission.
“I like the fact that we take a chance on students and that is what makes NEC who we are,” Lesperance said. “A pretty significant number leave school and go get a job, dropping out all together.”
Lesperance went on to say that NEC has traditionally had a very high acceptance rate in order to fill classes that may not have had many applicants. However, that may be changing in the near future. The college is approaching the number of students that would allow the on-the-ground undergraduate program to fund itself without revenue from online and other sources, and may soon be able to reduce class sizes if wanted.
“Once we get to 1350 undergraduate students, it will open up a lot more options for the college, we can be more selective with who we accept and do not, and we expect to hit that number in the next year or two.”
Another number that traditionally hurts the graduation rate of any school is the acceptance of transfers. Lesperance said that NEC takes approximately 60 transfers per year. If this number was accurate for three years, between 10-15% of undergraduate students would be transfers, and therefore not count towards the graduation rate.
NEC asks every student who chooses to leave the school about their reasons for leaving. One of the responses that Lesperance hears is Henniker is too small of a town, and doesn’t provide enough of a “college experience.” However, he also believes that the size of Henniker attracts many students from bigger cities who are looking for a more low key and academic atmosphere.
With the merger between New England College and the New Hampshire Institute of Art, students will be provided with the chance to live in Manchester, giving those who want it access to a bigger city.
The president of New England College, Michele Perkins, has said that improving the retention and graduation rates is a top priority. In the last year the school has adopted new advising software called Degreeworks. Degreeworks is a resource that allows students to track their credits online, and helps students and advisors be on the same page in planning for the future.
Additionally, NEC has adopted a student success collaborative that will allow the school to better track academics and athletics, allowing for earlier detection of struggling students and providing an opportunity for faculty and staff to reach out and help.
NEC was also recently selected to receive a five-year, $2.23 million-dollar federal Title lll Department of Education grant aimed at raising college retention rates among low-income students.
There have been positive results even this early, as Lesperance stated that the freshman class of 2017 ended up returning for their sophomore year with a 6% higher rate than in previous years. Additionally, Lesperance said he would like to see the school improve the first year retention rate from 64% to 70%. Doing so would allow the graduation rate to improve to around 55%.
“Student retention is more important than anything we do here,” Lesperance said, “and we are continuing to act upon it.”
