You might not give retention rates a lot of thought when you’re thumbing through guide books, but for colleges around the country, it’s their bread and butter.

For the past 26 years, ACT, Inc. — yep, the non-profit org responsible for the test by the same name — has been surveying post-secondary institutions to see how many of their freshmen stick around for their second year. While the nationwide retention rate has never been at 100 percent, and probably never will be, the 2007-08 academic year saw a startling two percent drop down to 66 percent.

This may sound alarming at first, but as the ACT points out, the numbers don’t factor in students who chose to take a semester off or those who transferred to another post-secondary institution. Retention rates track how many students stayed at a particular school — which is a good thing to consider when you’re looking at colleges but a poor indicator of the college drop-out rate.

In fact, while many of the private institutions saw a dip in retention rates, two-year public colleges saw a slight increase leading some to speculate that the current economy may influence students to choose less expensive schools that allow them the ability to transfer to traditional four-year colleges after two years, or just settling for a two-year education which usually culminates in the awarding of an associate degree.

– Genevieve M. Blaber