The rate of freshman students on the Athens campus returning for their second year this past fall
increased to 84.4 percent, the third-highest level since the Office of Institutional Research began
tracking the statistic in 1977. This year's re
tention rate is up from 83.2 percent last year and up from 78.7 percent in fall 1986 when the university moved to a selective admissions policy, according to the annual report of First-Year Student Attrition and Retention.
