Amherst College
PA-10: Student Success

10.1 Completion rate for low-income students

An institution earns 1 point when the ratio of the completion rate for low-income students to the overall student completion rate is 0.9 or more, as outlined in the Technical Manual.

Measurement

For this credit, an institution may report on its entire student body or limit its analysis to the predominant student body and may report on graduation rates and/or success rates (which include transfers). Report the most recent data available from within the previous three years. An institution may elect to report on average completion rates over a three or five year period as long as it does so consistently. 

Low-income students may be identified by their receipt of or qualification for need-based assistance, a family income threshold (e.g., a local, national, or international poverty line), geographic origin (e.g., economically divested communities), or as otherwise tracked by the institution. Further guidance is available in the STARS Help Center.

10.2 Completion rate for students with marginalized gender identities 

An institution earns 1 point when the ratio of the completion rate for students that identify as women or other marginalized gender identities to the overall completion rate is 0.9 or greater, as outlined in the Technical Manual.

Measurement

Report on the same time period and student body used for the overall student completion rate.
An institution that tracks gender identity (or sex) in a binary way should report on individuals who are identified as women (or else not identified as men) in the institution’s student data system.

10.3 Percentage of marginalized racial, ethnic, and/or Indigenous groups with equitable completion rates

An institution earns 1 point when all of the marginalized racial, ethnic, and/or Indigenous groups served by the institution have equitable completion rates, i.e., that the ratio outlined in Table III is 0.9 or greater for each group. Incremental points are available and earned as outlined in the Technical Manual.

Measurement

Report on the same time period and student body used for the overall student completion rate and the same marginalized racial, ethnic, and/or Indigenous groups reported in the Racial and Ethnic Diversity credit. If the Racial and Ethnic Diversity credit is not being pursued, the following guidance applies:

The institution’s analysis must be based on the prevailing social characteristic(s) by which one or more dominant groups are distinguished from marginalized racial, ethnic, and/or Indigenous groups in the institution’s national context and for which data are available. This should include, at minimum, existing regional or national census categories. Recognizing the inherent challenges associated with socially constructed categories, however, an institution that has taken a more refined approach to defining marginalized groups (e.g., by recognizing more specific identities) are encouraged to include those figures to the extent the data allow. Groups that comprise less than 1 percent of the student population may be excluded. 

International students may be included to the extent that they have self-identified as members of marginalized racial, ethnic, and/or Indigenous groups or else excluded from the analysis altogether. Other students who have not identified themselves as members of any groups (marginalized or dominant) must be included in the analysis and classified as part of a dominant group. 

Applicable to all institutions.