By CRAIG FREILICH

SUNY Potsdam and SUNY Canton administrators hope recent upticks in retention rates -- the percentage of first-time students who return the next year – will continue to improve.

At SUNY Potsdam, the retention rate for first-time full- and part-time students and transfers who arrived in 2011 was 74.9 percent – placing SUNY Potsdam next to last among the 12 “comprehensive” colleges in the SUNY system.

However, the rate rose to 80.2 percent for students who arrived in 2013 – just shy of the average of 81.4 percent for all of SUNY Potsdam’s peer institutions, according to SUNY Potsdam Executive Vice President Rick Miller.

The rate at which first-year bachelor’s degree students are returning to SUNY Canton for a second year rose from 74.1 percent in 2012 to 83 percent in 2015, according to SUNY Canton. In 2012, the average retention rate for all SUNY technology institutions was 76.2 percent; that rate for more recent years was not readily available.

“First-year retention rate is higher, so in six years we would expect graduation rates will be higher,” said SUNY Canton Provost and Vice-President of Academic Affairs Douglas Scheidt.

He noted that if a college wants to see improved graduation rates, one early indicator of possible success is first-year retention rates.

Before the big increase in retention in 2014, SUNY Potsdam’s retention ranged from 74.3 percent to 78.5 from 2009 to 2013.

SUNY Potsdam has set a goal of a 62 percent six-year graduation rate, which would be a significant improvement over the 52.7 percent rate reported as of the fall of 2014.

“To get to 60 percent retention over six years you have to get 80 percent fall to fall” year after year, Miller said. “We hit 80 percent a year ago, but the key is consistency, to hit 60 percent at the trailing end.”

Retention rate is a short-term indicator of a school’s value to its students and Scheidt and Miller both said they recognize the colleges’ role as a starting point for some students who might transfer out looking for another path.

Liberal arts schools don’t generally insist on undergraduates declaring a major before junior year, making it easier to return without the pressure of an imminent decision at the start of sophomore year.

“I don’t see that as problematic. It’s part of our mission as a liberal arts institution” to permit students time to make up their minds, Miller said.

The retention rate among students who transferred into SUNY Potsdam ranged from 69.4 percent among 297 transfers in 2008 to 78.5 percen