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Performance Metrics

In 2013 the Utah Legislature provided $1 million in one-time funds to incent Utah System of Higher Education (USHE) institutions to meet specific performance metrics that aid college completion.  These metrics were subsequently adopted by the Board of Regents, and funding was awarded to institutions based on their performance on the metrics.  Similarly, in 2014, the Legislature provided $1.5 million in one-time money for performance funding. In 2015, the Board of Regents established performance metrics for a portion of the new funds appropriated to the Utah System of Higher Education (see SB232). These metrics were areas related to degrees and certificates granted, services provided to underserved populations, responsiveness to workforce needs, and graduation efficiency. In 2021, the Performance Funding Model was revised to emphasis annual goals and five-year goal achievement in the areas/metrics of Access, Timely Completion, and High Yield Awards. Each metric area consists of measures for (A) all students and (B) underrepresented students. USHE Performance Metrics Updated Document

  • ACCESS METRIC: Increase the college-going rate of high school graduates by 10% by 2030.
    The Access metric looks at the three-year college-going rate of Utah high school graduates. The graduates from the Utah State Board of Education high school graduation cohort from three years’ previous to the metric year are matched to the National Student Clearinghouse and then to the USHE Technical college data warehouse to identify student enrollments in post-secondary education after high school graduation.
    • Access Metric Part A: All Students are included as college-going if they have an enrollment at any postsecondary education institution within three years of their high school graduation cohort. Students count as part of an institution’s share of the cohort if it is the first institution the student attended after high school graduation.
    • Access Metric Part B: Underrepresented students for the Access metric are those graduates from the USBE high school graduation who are low income OR Hispanic, Pacific Islander, Multiracial, American Indian/Alaska Native, or Black/African American.

  • COMPLETION METRIC: Increase the timely completion of degrees and certificates by 10% by 2030.
    The Timely Completion metric takes all the students who enter an institution as an undergraduate degree or certificate-seeking post-secondary student for the first time in a given academic year and measures their completion status in the year of the metric. Like the IPEDS Outcome Measures metric, students are part of the entering cohort in a given year whether the student is first-time in higher education or transferring into the institution. Similar to the IPEDS Graduation Rate metrics, the year of the cohort is determined based on the predominant level of the institution (bachelor’s, associate’s, certificate).
    • Completion Metric Part A:  All students count as timely completers if the length of the degree they earned was completed within 150% of time of their entering the institution.
    • Completion Metric Part B: Underrepresented students for the Timely Completion metric are students whose race/ethnicity as classified for IPEDS is Hispanic, Pacific Islander, Multiracial, American Indian/Alaska Native, or Black/African American.

  • HIGH YIELD METRIC: Increase the completion rate of graduates in high-demand, high wage programs by 20% by 2030
    The High-Yield Award metric examines all graduates reported by Utah higher education institutions and identifies the proportions of which that are associated with high-wage, high-demand career fields as identified by the Utah Department of Workforce Services. In performing this analysis, USHE staff examined expected educational levels associated with DWS’4-and 5-star jobs, then cross walked those jobs with certificates and degrees conferred using IPEDS award levels and CIP codes.  Consideration was given to region-specific high-wage/high-demand jobs, in addition to statewide needs.
    Snow College’s current list of 4 and 5-star programs.
    • High Yield Part A: All graduates who earned a degree or certificate in an identified high-wage, high-demand career fields.
    • High Yield Part B: Underrepresented students for the High-Yield Graduates metric are graduates who are female OR Hispanic, Pacific Islander, Multiracial, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, or Black/African American.

Snow College's annual and five-year goals are reflected in the following dashboard.  These goals are reviewed each year by the Snow College President, Cabinet, and Board of Trustees.  Metric data is updated after every 3rd Week Report, End-of-Term Report, IPEDS Completion Report (October), and IPEDS Graduation Rate Report (March).