Goal 1: Enhance Student Success
Over the past six years, we've placed primary importance on student success and engagement. We've accomplished significant improvements in helping our students make timely progress toward a degree while providing them with the opportunity to lead, serve and build real-world problem-solving skills. We've shared examples of this progress below.
Forging New Paths
Our creation of alternative pathways to NC State gives students a head start on collegiate success. We support students once they arrive on campus by eliminating barriers to graduating on time and giving them the ability and support to change direction. Through these efforts, we deliver more career-ready graduates with the knowledge and skill sets to solve society’s grand challenges.
While most of our first-year students start in the fall, we’re now admitting students through our Spring Connection program. We’re also providing transfer students with more options to attend NC State and achieve their academic goals. This includes the Goodnight Scholars program, which expanded in 2017 to include community college transfers; the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ STEAM (Student Transfer Enrollment Advising and Mentoring) program; and the College of Natural Resources’ CONNECT program. Additionally, our CODA (Change of Degree Application) process makes it easier for students to transfer within the university. We’re giving more people access to the high-impact education NC State provides, and we’re helping them navigate their own path within the university. Ultimately this means more graduates prepared to Think and Do in an increasingly competitive global economy.
Undergraduate Four-Year Graduation Rate
Undergraduate Six-Year Graduation Rate
36% Increasein Doctoral Degrees
Support From Start to Finish
We make strategic investments that create a clear path to graduation for all our students. From the time a student sets foot on campus, NC State provides resources and support to ensure timely academic progress. To help students navigate their chosen paths with ease, we’ve strengthened our advising services through Student Success GPS and Fellowship Advising, and we’ve increased advising staffing levels. Centralized resources, including the Student Services Center, the Military and Veteran Resource Center and the planned Academic Success Center at D.H. Hill Library, help boost academic performance along the way.
Specifically for undergraduates, we provide high-impact educational experiences ranging from entrepreneurship initiatives and the Provost’s Professional Experience Program to Living and Learning Villages and much more. Large-course redesign has also helped to improve learning outcomes through innovative instructional technology for students at all levels of undergraduate study. For graduate students, we offer a full range of support — financial, mentoring and professional development — through initiatives like our Thesis and Dissertation Support Services program and the Three Minute Thesis competition. For every type of student, we help them aim for success from the very first class until they finally turn the tassel.
