The college with the highest first-year retention rate in every state
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology had a first-year retention rate of 99%. Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a reputation for producing famous tech dropouts. But in reality, 99% of first-year students return — the highest rate in Massachusetts. Here is the college with the highest first-year retention rate in every state. Getting a student to choose a college is one thing. Getting them to come back for another year is just as important. Ranging from Ivy League universities to military academies , Business Insider calculated the college with the highest retention rate in each state. The first-year retention rate shows the proportion of students who return to their studies in the fall for their sophomore year. It's a metric colleges care about because it can indicate higher student satisfaction and strong academic support. Business Insider compiled each state's winner using provisional fall 2024 data from the Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The retention rate covers full-time, first-time bachelor-seeking students who entered in fall 2023 and measures whether they returned for fall 2024. The cohort size is adjusted to account for any permitted exclusions, such as a student's death. Business Insider also limited the data to degree-granting institutions only and set a minimum cohort size of 100 to avoid very small cohorts inflating retention rates. Because the data is provisional, the figures could be revised and should not be considered final counts. Here are the colleges with the highest retention rate in every state. ALABAMA: Auburn University Auburn University Ray Tan/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 5,915 Retention rate: 95% ALASKA: University of Alaska Fairbanks University of Alaska Fairbanks pabradyphoto/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 451 Retention rate: 74% ARIZONA: Arizona State University (Campus Immersion) GummyBone/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 13,867 Retention rate: 87% ARKANSAS: University of Arkansas neiu20001/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 6,289 Retention rate: 86% CALIFORNIA: Claremont McKenna College Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 321 Retention rate: 98% COLORADO: United States Air Force Academy sanfel/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,101 Retention rate: 97% CONNECTICUT: United States Coast Guard Academy Cadet Memorial Field at the United States Coast Guard Academy. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 287 Retention rate: 99% DELAWARE: University of Delaware DuPont Hall on the campus of the University of Delaware in Newark houses the schools construction and civil engineering department Kirkikis/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 4,190 Retention rate: 92% FLORIDA: University of Florida The UF Archway known as the UF Arch on Friday, May 3, 2024 at the Heavener Hall at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. Matt Pendleton Photography/iStock Adjusted first-year cohort: 6,726 Retention rate: 98% GEORGIA: Georgia Institute of Technology (Main Campus) CRobertson/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 3,751 Retention rate: 98% HAWAII: University of Hawaii at Mānoa hapabapa/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 2,868 Retention rate: 81% IDAHO: The College of Idaho The College of Idaho is located in Caldwell, Idaho. Mike Worley/Getty Images/iStockphoto Adjusted first-year cohort: 292 Retention rate: 82% ILLINOIS: University of Chicago Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,618 Retention rate: 99% INDIANA: University of Notre Dame Joe Hendrickson/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 2,074 Retention rate: 99% IOWA: Grinnell College Wolterk/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 457 Retention rate: 93% KANSAS: University of Kansas Budig Hall and Hoch Auditorium at the University of Kansas. Wolterk/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 5,159 Retention rate: 86% KENTUCKY: Centre College Courtesy of Centre College Adjusted first-year cohort: 360 Retention rate: 88% LOUISIANA: Tulane University of Louisiana Laser1987/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,866 Retention rate: 93% MAINE: Bowdoin College rossandgaffney/Getty Images/iStockphoto Adjusted first-year cohort: 504 Retention rate: 97% MARYLAND: Johns Hopkins University Amy Sparwasser/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,413 Retention rate: 98% MASSACHUSETTS: Massachusetts Institute of Technology HABesen/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,090 Retention rate: 99% MICHIGAN: Hillsdale College Chris duMond/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 349 Retention rate: 97% MINNESOTA: Carleton College Cynthia Shirk/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 538 Retention rate: 96% MISSISSIPPI: University of Mississippi Lyceum Building at Ole Miss, showing pathway and gardens Gerald Zaffuts/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 5,185 Retention rate: 87% MISSOURI: Washington University in St. Louis JByard/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,823 Retention rate: 95% MONTANA: Carroll College GummyBone/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 273 Retention rate: 82% NEBRASKA: Creighton University Wolterk/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,043 Retention rate: 94% NEVADA: University of Nevada-Reno Wirestock/Getty Images/iStockphoto Adjusted first-year cohort: 3,388 Retention rate: 80% NEW HAMPSHIRE: Dartmouth College arlutz73/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,206 Retention rate: 98% NEW JERSEY: Princeton University Brian Logan/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,332 Retention rate: 98% NEW MEXICO: New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology New Mexico Tech is located in Socorro, New Mexico. Greg Meland/Getty Images/iStockphoto Adjusted first-year cohort: 222 Retention rate: 77% NEW YORK: Columbia University in the City of New York Form and Flora/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,498 Retention rate: 98% NORTH CAROLINA: Duke University CRobertson/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,741 Retention rate: 98% NORTH DAKOTA: University of Mary Courtesy of Mike McCleary, University of Mary Adjusted first-year cohort: 559 Retention rate: 84% OHIO: Ohio State University (Main Campus) BSPollard/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 8,028 Retention rate: 94% OKLAHOMA: University of Tulsa Courtesy of University of Tulsa Adjusted first-year cohort: 558 Retention rate: 92% OREGON: Lewis & Clark College Courtesy of Lewis & Clarke College Adjusted first-year cohort: 536 Retention rate: 89% PENNSYLVANIA: University of Pennsylvania Dmitry Vinogradov/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 2,415 Retention rate: 99% RHODE ISLAND: Brown University tupungato/Getty Images/iStockphoto Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,692 Retention rate: 99% SOUTH CAROLINA: Clemson University CRobertson/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 4,488 Retention rate: 93% SOUTH DAKOTA: Augustana University Augustana University Wirestock/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 454 Retention rate: 86% TENNESSEE: Vanderbilt University CRobertson/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,612 Retention rate: 96% TEXAS: Rice University JHVEPhoto/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,118 Retention rate: 97% UTAH: Brigham Young University CRobertson/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 3,367 Retention rate: 91% VERMONT: Middlebury College Courtesy of Middlebury College Adjusted first-year cohort: 615 Retention rate: 94% VIRGINIA: University of Virginia (Main Campus) Leonid Andronov/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 3,965 Retention rate: 98% WASHINGTON: University of Washington (Seattle campus) gmc3101/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 6,928 Retention rate: 95% WEST VIRGINIA: West Virginia University BackyardProduction/Getty Images/iStockphoto Adjusted first-year cohort: 4,370 Retention rate: 83% WISCONSIN: University of Wisconsin-Madison GummyBone/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 7,937 Retention rate: 96% WYOMING: University of Wyoming GummyBone/Getty Images Adjusted first-year cohort: 1,422 Retention rate: 80% Read the original article on Business Insider