School of Communication and Journalism

2022-23 Annual Report: Enrollment, Retention and Graduation Rates

Prepared by the Office of Institutional Research, Planning & Effectiveness

June 23, 2023

 

Click here to view a PDF of the full report

The following annual report details enrollment and retention and graduation rates in the School of Communication and Journalism. This report is updated yearly and posted on the School's webpage in compliance with ACEJMC's (Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication) Standard 1: Mission, Governance and Administration.

Enrollment

The School of Communication and Journalism measures enrollment in accordance with University standards, using headcount enrollment statistics from the official fall term day 15 snapshot. Below, programmatic enrollment is detailed for the past 10 years, including information about new and continuing students in these data, "New Transfer" indicates a new external transfer student, students switching their major are including under "Continuing Undergraduate." Students are counted once in each program they are enrolled, and once in the overall total.

	Fall 2013	Fall 2014	Fall 2025	Fall 2016	Fall 2017	Fall 2018	Fall 2019	Fall 2020	Fall 2021	Fall 2022
School of Communication & Journalism	262	252	252	254	244	223	235	224	277	289
Journalism (Bachelor of Arts)	254	241	239	248	242	221	235	217	216	173
New Freshman	49	38	45	35	42	42	38	30	40	29
New Transfer	30	30	31	31	28	25	26	24	23	11
Continuing Undergraduate	175	173	163	182	172	154	171	163	153	133
Journalism (Master of Science)	8	11	13	6	2	2		1		3
New Graduate	1		2							3
Continuing Graduate	7	11	11	6	2	2		1
Mass Communication (Bachelor of Science)									37	87
New Freshman									6	13
New Transfer									6	12
Continuing Undergraduate									25	62
Science Communication (Master of Science)									4	7
New Graduate									3	3
Continuing Graduate									1	4
Science Communication (Graduate Certificate)								6	20	19
New Graduate									2	1
Continuing Graduate								6	18	18

Retention & Graduation Rates

The School of Communication and Journalism measures Undergraduate student success following the university’s “junior year graduation” rate methodology, which tracks outcomes of students beginning in their "junior year." Students "junior year" is considered the third fall after entry for students who entered as full-time students, or the first fall where they reach junior (U3) standing for students entering as transfer students. The University defines U3 standing as having earned between 57 and 84 credits, but in some rare cases can be manually assigned.

The School has identified  retention and graduation rates of junior/U3 students as principle measures of program effectiveness because they are committed to their majors by this point in their careers. Some 60 percent of all Stony Brook undergraduates who complete a degree switch their majors at least once. The examination of success rates of students in the junior year better reflects the performance of students at the programmatic level rather than students’ exploratory activity in their early career and provides data more comparable to communication and journalism programs that admit students to the major as juniors. Cohorts are based upon enrollment at the official fall census date. Retention rates are calculated as the percent of each cohort enrolled on the official census date the following fall; graduation rates are the percent who graduated by August 31 two years (equivalent to 4 years from entry for freshman or 100% of normal time) or four years (equivalent to 6 years from entry for freshman or 150% of normal time) later.

Retention Rates - Journalism (B.A)

Over the past 5 years, 72.2% of Journalism juniors were retained within the Journalism program one year later, compared to university-wide where 74.7% of students were retained within their major one year later. Additionally, over the past 5 years, 84.1% of Journalism juniors were retained in any program at Stony Brook one year later, compared to university-wide, where 83.1% of juniors were retained in any program at Stony Brook one year later.

Retention Rates - Mass Communication (B.S.)

Because the Mass Communication program is new, 5-year averages are not available. For the most recent cohort, 80.0% of Mass Communication juniors were retained within the Mass Communication program one year later, compared to university-wide where 73.0% of students were retained in their major one year later. Additionally, for the most recent cohort, 90.0% of Mass Communication juniors were retained in any program at Stony Brook one year later, compared to university-wide, where 80.7% of juniors were retained in any program at Stony Brook one year later.

Graduation Rate - Journalism (B.A.)

Over the past 5 years, 50.2% of Journalism juniors graduated in the Journalism program within two years, compared to university-wide where 61.8% of students graduated in their program within two years. Additionally, over the past 5 years, 59.5% of Journalism juniors graduated in any program at Stony Brook within two years, compared to university-wide, where 66.7% of juniors graduated in any program at Stony Brook within two years.

Over the past 5 years, 63.8% of Journalism juniors juniors graduated in the Journalism program within two years, compared to university-wide where 73.4% of students graduated in their program within two years. Additionally, over the past 5 years, 83.6% of Journalism juniors graduated in any program at Stony Brook within two years, compared to university-wide, where 85.4% of juniors graduated in any program at Stony Brook within two years.

Graduation Rate - Mass Communication (B.S.)

At this time, the Mass Communication's first "Junior Year" cohort has yet to reach the two-year threshold for analyzing graduation rates. Data will be available in future annual reports.