There are benefits to fraternities and sororities beyond new friends and regularly scheduled band parties.
A recent collaborative effort between the Office of Greek Life and the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA) has shown that members of the Greek community are more likely to stay at Auburn and graduate than independent students.
The study looked at first-year retention, persistence to the second -year, fourth-year graduation and sixth-year graduation among greek and independent students, showing higher retention rates for Greek students in all categories.
Paul Kittle, director of Greek Life orchestrated the study.
"They (students) get into an organization that they feel comfortable with and that anchors them to our campus," Kittle said.
Iryna Johnson and Matthew Campbell from OIRA conducted the grunt statistical work for the study, following students' enrollment rates by persistence of Banner ID numbers from semester to semester.
By looking at Banner ID numbers only and recording trends in aggregate, students were not identified by name, protecting their identities.
"(The study took) several, several, several hours," Campbell said. "I would say several days as a matter of fact. It's not something that's easily done because you want it to be right and you want it to be accurate."
Retention rates are a major priority of the higher education industry as a whole, and things are no different for Auburn.
"Retention is a major focus--it's one of the major aspects of the strategic plan of the University," Campbell said. "In a perfect world, I think that you would want every student that came to Auburn to graduate from Auburn, and so we want to do the things that we can to make that possible."
Auburn's retention rates are a constant focus of OIRA, which assists organizations like Greek Life, the Provost Office and the Division of Student Affairs.
"Our retention rates are really good, and they are higher sometimes than other similar institutions," Johnson said. "At the same time, we will always look to improve even good retention rates."
The data will be used in a number of ways, including to publicize for the Greek community during Camp War Eagle.
"It shows central administration, parents and the community at large that fraternities and sororities play a large role at Auburn beyond what they see as a social outlet," Kittle said.
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