Starting Strong: Early Momentum and 2-Year Graduation Outcomes

Students who complete all key early momentum milestones in their ﬁrst year, including Gateway English, Gateway Math, and who achieve 30+ credits graduate at signiﬁcantly higher rates than those who miss one or more of these benchmarks, across every cohort from Fall 2019 to Fall 2023 at SUNY Broome.

Graduation rates for students who completed all three milestones consistently ranged from about 30% to 38% from 2019-2022, while rates for students missing at least one of these early momentum metrics remained much lower (10-13%).The data clearly shows the signiﬁcant gap in graduation rate of at least 20 percentage points between these two student groups, and the clear impact achieving all 3 early momentum metrics in the ﬁrst year has on student outcomes.

The most recent cohort (Fall 2023) reﬂects our highest two-year graduation rate on record at 55.2%. It should be noted that this large jump from 20% in 2022 is due to the fact that students in the BAP (Binghamton Advantage Program) were not included in the Fall 2023 cohort as the program concluded in Fall 2023. As those students did not achieve 30 credits within the ﬁrst year, they are not included in the base cohort of students.

These ﬁndings reinforce national research on early momentum metrics, which shows that completing foundational coursework and building credit early helps students stay on track and achieve their academic goals.

For more details, please explore the recently published Academic Momentum Dashboard available on the Institutional Data Dashboard through MyCollege or the Institutional Effectiveness webpage, where key performance indicators and student success outcomes are tracked to support data-informed decision-making.