Enrollment, Retention, and Graduation Highlights 

In recent months OIRA has made a number of updates to the static reports available on our website. Below you will find a few key highlights:

Enrollment

Both UMaine and UMaine Machias have welcomed more new learners than in previous years. The fall 2024 cohort at UMaine was 12% larger than the fall 2023 cohort. Similarly, UMaine Machias’ first-year class grew by 23% compared to fall 2023. Additional data can be found in the Enrollment Dashboard and in the UMaine and UMaine Machias 10-Year Enrollment Report. 

Retention
UMaine and UMaine Machias have achieved historic retention milestones this year: 

• At UMaine, 83.4% of first-time, full-time students from the fall 2023 cohort returned for their second year, an increase of 6.1 percentage points from the fall 2022 cohort and an all time high for first-year retention. 
• UMaine Machias’ retention rate for first-time, full-time students reached 81.4%, a 13.5-percentage-point jump from the previous year. 
• UMaine also recorded its highest-ever return rate of 82.7% for all degree- and certificate-seeking undergraduate students, excluding those who graduated in the interim. 

Graduation

UMaine saw a record-high four-year graduation rate with 45% of the fall 2020 cohort graduating within four years. The tables below show the graduation rates for UMaine and UMaine Machias.

UMaine Machias

4-year graduation rate (Fall 2020 cohort)	21%
5-year graduation rate (Fall 2019 cohort)	22%
6-year graduation rate (Fall 2018 cohort)	25%

A full inventory of our static reports can be found within the Report Index on our website.