ITA Peformance
Completion Rate
Employment Rate
Training-Related Placement Rate
Median Hourly Wage

When Required: Currently, completion-rate data is not required unless an institution wishes to accept Individual Training Account funds as payment for program participation. It is also not required for programs that have been in existence for less than one year and therefore lack a documented history of completions, dropouts, and other types of exits.

Brief Definition: The number of students who complete a program during the reporting year divided by the number of students who exit the program during the reporting year.

The following measures must be entered for the completion rate to be calculated:

• Reporting-Year Enrollees. Establish your reporting year, then enter the total number of regular students who participated in the program during any part of the 365-day reporting year. This includes students who enrolled in previous years but remained enrolled in the program at any time during the reporting year, as well as new enrollees into the program.
  
  The “reporting year” starting and ending dates will vary for each school. A “reporting year” is a 365-day period but it may begin on any day of the calendar year that you choose. In order to provide consumers with recent information, the end date of your reporting year must not be more than 365 days prior to the date you enter data.
  
  
• No Formal Attendance. Does your count of reporting-year enrollees include students who withdrew from classes and received a full refund? If so, enter the total number of students who, during the reporting year, withdrew from, dropped out of, or were expelled from the program and were entitled to and actually received a refund of 100% of their tuition and fees (less any permitted administrative fee) under the institution’s refund policy. If you do not know the number of students who may fall into this definition, enter zero. You must also enter zero if students with no formal attendance are not included in your count of reporting-year enrollees. Students who enrolled in the program but did not formally attend according to this definition count neither for nor against the school in the calculation of the completion rate.
  
  
• Early Placement. Enter the total number of students who dropped out of the program during the reporting year for gainful employment in the recognized occupation for which they were being trained or for employment in a related comparable recognized occupation. Enter zero if there are none or if you do not have verifiable data on this outcome. Students who exit the program prior to graduation in order to take early placement in the field, according to this definition, are counted neither for nor against the school in the calculation of the completion rate.
  
  
• Current Enrollees. Current enrollees are students who are included in your count of reporting-year enrollees but who, as of the closing date of your reporting year, had not exited the program. These students count neither for you nor against you in the calculation of the completion rate; they are continuing in their studies and will be factored into the rate in the future year in which they exit the program.
  
  Enter the total number of "current enrollees" as of the closing date of your self-identified, 365-day reporting year. Students considered "current enrollees" are those who (a) completed at least one program course that began during the reporting year, (b) neither met the definition of "completer" nor officially withdrew from the program during the reporting year, and (c) plan to continue in the program, or have not given any indication otherwise.
  
  
• Deceased or Totally Disabled. Enter the total number of students who were enrolled in the program at any time during the reporting year that died or that withdrew from classes as a direct consequence of the emergence of a disabling condition.
  
  
• Completers. Enter the total number of regular students who, during the reporting year, earned a degree, diploma, journeyman’s card, certificate, license, or other recognized credential awarded for successfully completing the program. You may include students who earned the credential but on whom it has not been formally conferred due to an unpaid financial obligation to your school.

Calculation:

The completion rate is calculated according to the formula:

Exiters = (Reporting-Year Enrollees – No Formal Attendance – Early Placement – Current Enrollees – Death and Disability)

Completion Rate = Completers/Exiters

WARNING: Please note that the categories of “No Formal Attendance,” “Early Placement,” “Current Enrollees,” “Completers,” and “Death and Disability” are mutually exclusive—no student can be counted in more than one of these categories. All students—including dropouts, who are not counted in the tally of student outcomes—are to be included in the number of “Reporting-Year Enrollees.”

Example:

Fourteen people participated in the certificate-level medical assistant program at the ABC school over the course of the reporting year (July 1, 1999-June 30, 2000). Of these, six graduated during the reporting year. Another six participated in the program, but had completed only a portion of the program at the close of the reporting year; these students are counted as current enrollees. One student enrolled in the program but never attended classes and received a full refund of tuition. The final student withdrew from the program prior to completion and is not counted in any outcome categories.

The program completion rate is 85.7%, or 6 completers/(14 reporting-year enrollees – 1 student with no formal attendance – 6 students who are current enrollees – 0 students leaving for early placement – 0 students who died or became totally disabled).