Academic Profile

Academic Profile Fall 2022

Data Source:  Northeastern Banner/Cognos ODS and Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE).  

NOTE:  There will always be slight differences in numbers on this report and various official reporting dates.  This is due to data constantly changing and updating daily during the course of the semester and the academic year.

Highlights

• Northeastern welcomed students from 29 counties across Colorado; 23 states across the U.S.; and 19 countries around the world.
• Service area students attendance increased by 36% from Fall 2021 to Fall 2022.
• Three hundred seventy-three (373) high school students attended Northeastern in 2021-2022 from 26 school districts and attempted 4,833 credits.

Student Demographics

Fall 2022 was comprised of 1,446 students which included 475 students (33%) from Logan County; 511 (35%) from Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington and Yuma Counties; 321 (22%) from 29 counties throughout Colorado; 98 (7%) from 23 states, with Nebraska and Utah having the most students attending Northeastern.  NJC welcomed 41 (3%) International students from 19 countries around the world, including France, Great Britain, and the Dominican Republic.

There were 666 (46%) full-time students and 780 (54%) part-time students.  The top line in the chart below represents the total number of students attending Northeastern in the past five years.

The number of full-time female students was 53% while male students totaled 47%; however, when comparing the number of part time female and male students, the number of male students is significantly less at 26% than females at 74%.  The significant difference in the part time numbers has been a common trend for the past five years; however, for Fall 2022, this difference has increased by an additional 10%.

Twenty-one percent (21%) of Northeastern students were new first time, while 23% were high school students (also known as high school concurrent).  Five percent (5%) of students transferred in from another college and the remaining 51% were continuing. 

Seventy-one percent (71%) of students at Northeastern for Fall 2022 were age 27 and under; this group is known as Generation Z.  This compares to 74% for Fall 2021 and 77% for Fall 2020.

Forty-five percent (45%) of Northeastern students are working toward Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, and Associate of General Studies degrees while 17% are working toward Applied Science degrees. Nine percent (9%) are working toward certificates in a variety of subjects.

The following chart summarizes the percentage of students who are working toward transfer out degrees (Associate of Arts, Science, and General Studies), and the percentage who are working toward Career/Technical degrees.  From Fall 2018 to Fall 2020, transfer out programs had been decreasing and career/tech programs had been increasing; however, in Fall 2021, transfer degrees increased and Career/Technical degrees decreased, and this same trend seems to be continuing for Fall 2022.  The number of non-degree seeking and undecided has increased over the past two years as well, which may be due to a concentrated effort to change students attending for teacher re-certification courses to non-degree seeking.

When looking at race/ethnicity of all students at Northeastern, White non-Hispanic students account for the largest category with 72% while Students of Color account for 21%.  When looking at full time students only, White non-Hispanic students account for 64% of the student population while Students of Color account for 28%.  For Students of Color this compares to 28% for Fall 2021 and 30% for 2020. 

The breakdown of Students of Color by race/ethnicity shows that Hispanic students account for the largest percentage of Students of Color with 74%.  This compares to 75% for Fall 2021 and 72% for Fall 2020.  Northeastern has continued to see the Hispanic student population increase in the last few years.

Of the 1,446 Northeastern students, 46% have identified themselves as first generation.  This compares to 49% for Fall 2021 and 50% for Fall 2020 which is a decrease.  Sixty-six percent (66%) of those are female students.

New First Time and Transfer Students

Northeastern welcomed 300 new first time students for Fall 2022 and 93% of these students attended full time.  Of the full time students, 52% were male, 50% were first generation, 38% were PELL eligible, and 27% were Students of Color.  Of these 280 full time students, 22% were from Logan County, 13% were from the remaining service area, 43% were from other parts of Colorado, 12% were from out of state, and 10% were International students.

Northeastern obtained high school GPA on 211 (70%) of new first time students.  Sixty-seven percent (67%) of students who submitted a high school GPA earned a 3.0 or above while in high school.  This compares to 47% earning a 3.0 or above GPA for their first semester at Northeastern.

When looking at success measures for new first-time, full-time students at Northeastern, it has been found that students who are both first generation and PELL eligible tend to fall behind their peers in first semester GPA and the percentage of credits earned.

The first chart below shows the average first semester (term) GPA of all new first time students by demographic status.  Students who are non-first generation/non-PELL eligible are succeeding at higher rates.  The yellow line represents the average term GPA of non-first generation/non-PELL eligible students in Fall 2022 to show the contrast between the rates of success.  Students who were both first generation and PELL eligible had an average term GPA of just 2.40 while non first generation/non PELL eligible students had a term GPA of 2.70.

The same is true when looking at the percentage of credits earned.  For Fall 2022, non-first generation/non-PELL eligible students earned 89% of the credits they attempted while students who were both first generation and PELL eligible earned just 79%.

When comparing Fall 2022 to Fall 2021, for students who are both first generation and PELL eligible, gains have been made.  The gains are mostly due to the number of Students of Color decreasing and the number of White non-Hispanic students increasing within this specific group.

High School Concurrent (also known as Dual Enrollment)

For the academic year 2021-2022, Northeastern provided college coursework to 373 high school students from 26 school districts.  These students attempted 4,833 credits.  Of the Northeastern high school concurrent students who graduated in 2022, 23% became new first time students which compares to 25% in Fall 2021 and nearly 29% in Fall 2020.

Sterling/Caliche, Yuma, and Haxtun had the highest percentage of high school concurrent students who become new first time students at Northeastern after high school graduation; while Akron, Julesburg and Peetz did not have any high school concurrent students attending.

A list of the high school seniors that did not attend Northeastern was sent to National Student Clearinghouse where it was found that 56% entered 4-year colleges, 18% entered 2-year colleges, and the remaining 26% did not have any college enrollment data.  Less common majors listed for this group included Film, Culinary Arts, Aviation, Interior Design, Supply Chain Management, and Gun Smithing.

For Fall 2022, there were 329 high school/less than high school students attending Northeastern.  The majority were part time students; however, 9% were full time students.  This compares to 14% for Fall 2021 and 17% for Fall 2020.  Sixty-two percent (62%) were female, 21% were Students of Color, 36% were from Logan County, 55% were from the service area and 9% were from other parts of Colorado.  Forty-four percent (44%) were first generation. 

This group of students earned 94% of the 2,370 credits attempted which compares with 92% for both Fall 2021 and Fall 2020.

The average term GPA for Fall 2022 for high school students was 3.04, while the average cumulative GPA was 3.20.  This compares to term GPA of 3.03 and cumulative GPA of 3.15 for Fall 2021; and 2.91 and 3.13 for Fall 2020.

Financial Aid     

The financial aid data seen below are gathered from the IPEDS (Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System) student financial aid survey.  In 2021-2022, the total amount of grant aid was $ 6,138,492 making the average amount per student $ 5,846.  The total amount of loan aid was $ 1,611,632 making the average loan amount per student $ 5,445.

Overall, 1,050 students received some form of aid in 2021-22.  Five hundred forty-five students (545) received PELL grants and 296 students received federal loans.  Overall, students’ received more institutional aid than was received from federal or state/local aid as well as federal loans.        

Conclusion

Overall enrollment increased by 3.8% from Fall 2021 to Fall 2022 due in part to a large increase in enrollment from students in the service area counties which increased by 36%.  The number of continuing students increased by 34%.  This is likely due to enrollment of teachers in re-certification courses.  Forty-four percent (44%) of continuing students for Fall 2022 were in teacher re-certification courses compared to just 28% for Fall 2021.

Meanwhile, the number of new first time students dropped from 386 for Fall 2021 to 300 for Fall 2022, which is a 29% decrease and is a lower number than in Fall 2020, which was 313.  Increases in enrollment of new students could come from the addition of E-Sports and Trap Shooting as Northeastern continues to strive toward the future.