Student Achievement
Statement of Educational Effectiveness
Mission: Asbury Seminary is a community called to prepare theologically educated, sanctified, Spirit-filled men and women to evangelize and to spread scriptural holiness throughout the world through the love of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit and to the glory of God the Father.
The faculty and staff of Asbury Theological Seminary are dedicated to the fulfillment of this mission and a continuous cycle of evaluation and improvement of the academic programs, services and overall effectiveness of theological education at Asbury. While effectiveness can be measured in many differing ways, Asbury Theological Seminary used two key metrics of overall program effectiveness:
- Year to Year Retention Rates
- Degree Completion Rates
Year to Year Retention Rates
| Fall 2016 | Fall 2017 | Fall 2018 | Fall 2019 | Fall 2020 | Fall 2021 | Fall 2022 | |
| By Percentage | 83% | 80% | 86% | 85% | 75% | 79% | 81% |
The year over year retention rate is the percentage of degree seeking students who remain active in a program one year after their start date.
Goal: Asbury Theological Seminary aims to maintain a 75% or higher student retention rate across academic programs.
Results: The retention rate in the Fall 2022 is 81%, which was above our goal of 75%.
Degree Completion Rates
Asbury Seminary assesses the time to completion for its graduate programs to examine its educational effectiveness. Asbury uses the Association of Theological Schools (tATS) timeframe for each degree to assess its goal fulfillment.
MDIV Goal: For the Master of Divinity degree (96 credit hours), the Seminary strives for 85% of MDIV students to complete within 6 years.
Results: Among the graduates of the Academic year 2022 – 2023, 91% of MDIV students completed their degree within 6 years.
MA Goal: For other MAs (39- 75 credits), the seminary strives for 75% students to complete their degrees within 4 years.
Results: Among the graduates (2022-23), 81% of the MA students completed their degree within that time frame.
ThM Goal: For the ThM degree, the seminary strives for 60% of the students to complete in 2 years.
Results: Among the graduates (2022-23), 63% percent of the ThM students completed the degree within that time frame.
DMin Goal: For DMin degree, the seminary strives for 90% students to complete their degree within 6 years.
Results: The goal was achieved in 2022-23 academic year with 100% of the DMin graduates completing the program within 6 years.
PhD Goal: For PhD degree, the seminary strives for 75% of its doctoral students to complete within eight years.
Results: Among the 2022-23 graduates, 82% of PhD students completed it within the timeframe of eight years.