Associate Director Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Florida, United States
Session Abstract: The present study focused on the impact of the student-to-faculty ratio (SFR) on student success. It has been widely believed that low SFR means more one-on-one time with instructors, and students tend to receive more individualized attention and hands-on learning experiences. These benefits can further improve student success. This is an important topic for research because a low SFR limits the available resources in other areas. Utilizing IPEDS data on the entering cohort of 2016 freshmen and SFR over the six years from 2016 to 2021, we examined the impact of SFR on the six-year graduation rate. The result shows that although there appears to be a significant simple correlation between a high graduation rate and low SFR, with entering student test scores controlled, SFR no longer shows a significant impact. We further analyzed this impact among different types of institutions.
