Delgado Community College

The result

Delgado Community College recorded an “81 percent semester-to-semester retention rate for students that earned their NSLS induction, which was nearly 20 percent higher than their institutional retention rate,” as published by the National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS).

Delgado’s NSLS chapter was founded in 2017. As of October 2026, the NSLS chapter directory lists 3,053 total members.

Why that figure matters at a community college

Retention at open-access institutions is a structurally harder number than retention at a selective four-year college. The median full-time retention rate at public two-year institutions is 63 percent, against 77 percent at private nonprofit four-year institutions and 71 percent across all degree-granting institutions (IPEDS, Fall 2023: the fall 2022 cohort returning in fall 2023, across 793 public two-year institutions).

The most useful comparison is Delgado’s inducted students against Delgado’s own institutional rate, which is the comparison the NSLS published. The Delgado figure is semester-to-semester, while the IPEDS medians are fall-to-fall, so treat the medians as sector context rather than a direct benchmark.

How the program builds attachment

Students at community colleges rarely leave for one reason. Capability, cost, and transportation compound, and a student with no connection to campus can leave over something small. Co-curricular involvement is one of the few retention levers that does not require new academic infrastructure: it gives a student a role, a small group that notices an absence, and a reason to be on campus beyond class.

The NSLS structure maps onto that directly. The member journey is five steps: orientation, a two-hour Leadership Training Day, three Speaker Broadcasts, three Success Networking Team meetings, and induction, which usually takes place in a ceremony. That is around ten hours in total and typically one semester. In Success Networking Teams, students meet in small groups to set goals and hold each other accountable with timelines and expectations. After each meeting, students submit a reflective journal entry online, which gives the advisor a regular way to coach and mentor them. Because the program runs in person, virtually, or fully asynchronously, a working, commuting student can complete the same sequence as anyone else.

Presenting the result on your campus

The 81 percent figure compares students who earned induction with the institution’s overall rate. Students opt in, so some of the difference reflects who chooses to join. The strongest framing for a provost is reach: structured involvement connects students who would otherwise be unattached, and attachment is what predicts persistence.

Planning for a similar campus

Define participation before the term starts, compare against a matched group where you can, and disaggregate the result. Where a matched comparison is not available, report reach on its own: “we engaged 140 part-time students with no prior co-curricular involvement” makes the case without a causal claim.

For sector context and measurement methods, see our student retention pillar guide and the community college segment page.