Segments · Private nonprofit, 4-year
The highest median in the sector is the hardest one to move.
At 77%, the students a private college is still losing are not failing courses. They are quietly unattached. This page covers the benchmark, what binds retention work when tuition is the revenue model, and how a National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS) chapter sits alongside honors structures you already run.
IPEDS EF2023D: full-time retention, fall 2022 cohort returning fall 2023. Federal data, attributed to IPEDS.
Private nonprofit four-years hold the highest median of any sector: 77.0%, against 75.0% at public four-years, 71.0% across all 3,296 degree-granting institutions, and 63.0% at public two-years. "Private" is not one category, though. Private for-profit four-years sit at 64.0%, thirteen points below their nonprofit counterparts.
Note what a high median implies. Among the 1,240 institutions reporting on this measure, the remaining attrition is concentrated in students who are academically fine and structurally unattached. That is the population co-curricular involvement is actually good at reaching, and the reason this sector tends to fund engagement work rather than debate it.
What actually binds
Six constraints at a tuition-dependent institution
The mechanism
Fit is the failure mode, attachment is the lever
Students rarely leave a private college for one reason. A student who is capable, financially stretched, and socially unanchored leaves over something small, because nothing is holding them. The same student with one strong connection usually stays through the same setback.
Co-curricular involvement works on that variable, and it does so without new academic infrastructure. It gives a student a role, a small group that notices an absence, and a reason to be on campus that is not a class.
The NSLS structure delivers that quickly. Students are nominated by their campus, then complete orientation, a two-hour Leadership Training Day, three Speaker Broadcasts, three Success Networking Team meetings, and induction, which usually takes place in a ceremony, around ten hours in total, typically inside one semester. The Success Networking Teams are small peer groups that set goals and hold each other accountable, which is the part that changes whether a first-year student is known by anyone.
Nomination matters more here than it looks. Students are invited by the institution rather than recruited at an activities fair, which reaches students who would not have put themselves forward, precisely the ones an honors structure does not select for.
Proof in this segment
One private four-year has published an outcome
Merrimack, where the NSLS reports that it was able to retain students who joined the NSLS at a rate of 95 percent. It is a retention rate for members, stated on its own rather than against the institution’s rate or the 77.0% sector median.
Before quoting it internally, confirm the interval, the number of students, and the institution’s own rate over the same period. Members joined voluntarily, so selection effects are part of the result: a structured honor society develops students and attracts the students most inclined to engage.
The claim that survives scrutiny is narrower and more useful: structured involvement reaches students who would otherwise be unattached, and attachment predicts persistence. Whether your chapter reaches those students, rather than the ones already in four organizations, is a design decision you control.
Academic integration
What "credit recommendation" does and does not mean
This comes up faster at private institutions than anywhere else, so it is worth being exact. The NSLS curriculum runs three levels, each with a certificate track and a credit-recommended track. Three courses, FOL 102, ADV 202, and EXEC 302, carry credit recommendations from ACE and NCCRS. Completing Foundations is what produces induction.
A credit recommendation is not credit. The NSLS states plainly that the process of transferring credit recommendations varies by institution and directs students to their registrar, and no public list of accepting institutions exists. Whether your institution accepts anything is entirely your registrar’s decision.
The accurate framing for an internal memo: this is a leadership honor society accredited by Cognia, with one course at each of its three levels (FOL 102, ADV 202, EXEC 302) carrying credit recommendations your registrar may choose to evaluate. Our accreditation and credit page covers the mechanics for registrars.
Making the case
Retention math your CFO will recognize
On a tuition-dependent campus the persuasive number is net tuition revenue retained, not program cost avoided. Take your average net tuition per student, multiply by the additional students who persist, and compare that against the program cost. The result is usually not close.
That arithmetic is only as good as the retention comparison underneath it, which is where most co-curricular claims collapse. Define participation before the term begins. Compare against a matched group, meaning the same entry cohort, similar credit load, and similar aid status, rather than your institution-wide rate. Disaggregate by first-generation, commuter, and transfer status before you present.
Where a matched comparison is not available, report reach on its own. "We engaged 90 students with no prior co-curricular involvement" is a real result and needs no causal claim. The full method is in our measuring student outcomes guide, and the cost question is answered on what it costs.
Talk through your campus goals
Explore the program, responsibilities, and next steps with our partnerships team.
Private college questions
What is a good retention rate for a private college?
The median full-time retention rate at private nonprofit four-year institutions is 77.0%, based on the fall 2022 cohort returning in fall 2023 across 1,240 institutions (IPEDS EF2023D). That is the highest of any sector. The median is 75.0% at public four-year institutions, 71.0% across all degree-granting institutions, 64.0% at private for-profit four-year institutions, and 63.0% at public two-year institutions.
Why is retention harder to improve at a private nonprofit college?
Because the starting point is already high. When the sector median is 77%, the students still leaving are rarely leaving for reasons a tutoring program or an early-alert system catches. They are leaving over fit, cost, and disengagement, which is why attachment-focused interventions matter more in this sector than academic-support interventions.
How should a tuition-dependent institution think about the cost of a retention program?
In terms of net tuition revenue retained rather than program cost in isolation. A small number of students who stay an additional year usually covers the cost of a co-curricular program several times over. That calculation only holds up if the retention comparison underneath it is sound, so define participation before the term, compare against a matched group rather than your institution-wide rate, and disaggregate the result.
Has a private college published an NSLS retention outcome?
Yes. The NSLS reports that Merrimack was able to retain students who joined the NSLS at a rate of 95 percent. It is a retention rate for members, stated without a comparison rate, and members chose to join, so selection effects are part of the result. Before quoting it internally, confirm the interval, the group size, and the institution’s own rate over the same period.
We already have an honors program. Why add a national honor society?
Coverage rather than duplication is the question worth asking. An honors college typically serves students admitted on academic credentials, which is a different population from students who would benefit most from structured leadership development and peer accountability. The NSLS is a leadership honor society accredited by Cognia, with a defined curriculum and campus nomination, so it reaches students an academic honors structure does not select for.
Can students earn academic credit for the leadership coursework?
Three NSLS courses, FOL 102, ADV 202, and EXEC 302, carry credit recommendations from ACE and NCCRS. Credit recommendations are not credit. The NSLS states that the process of transferring credit recommendations varies by institution and directs students to their registrar, and no public list of accepting institutions exists. Treat academic integration as a decision your own registrar makes, not something the program delivers.
How does a small Student Affairs team run this?
The published advisor commitment is 10 to 20 hours per semester, because chapters are student-led and the NSLS provides the programming. The NSLS supplies the annually updated curriculum, an all-inclusive Chapter Portal, six broadcast speakers a year, managed engagement and recruitment, marketing kits, executive board training, free regional conferences, annual program assessments, and a dedicated success team.
Sources. Sector retention medians and institution counts: IPEDS EF2023D: full-time retention, fall 2022 cohort returning fall 2023. Federal data, attributed to IPEDS and never to the NSLS. The Merrimack outcome, the advisor commitment, what a chapter includes, and delivery formats: info.nsls.org/our-program. The five-step member journey, the ten-hour estimate, and campus nomination: nsls.org/faq. The three-level curriculum and the credit-recommended courses: nsls.org/leadership-education-programs and nsls.org/credit-reciprocity. Cognia accreditation and the ACE and NCCRS credit recommendations: nsls.org/accreditation-and-recommendation-service-providers. Credit recommendations are not credit, and the NSLS states that transferring them varies by institution.