UVM students like what they see — they are returning and graduating in record numbers. First-year retention, or the number of students who return to college after their first year, reached 91 percent for in-state sophomores this fall, according to a University Communications press release. This is an 8 percent increase from first-year retention 10 years ago, according to the press release. UVM recently finalized its report on fall enrollment, which will be presented to the Board of Trustees on Friday, the press release stated. The report reveals a rise in enrollment of ALANA (Asian-American, Latino/Latina, African-American, Native American and multi-racial) students to 10 percent of the undergraduate student body. The enrollment of international students also rose by 28 percent, with 318 students attending this year, according to the report. Since 2000, UVM has implemented five residential learning communities, advanced undergraduate research opportunities, made service learning courses more readily available, offered writing-intensive programs and promoted more collaboration in the classroom, the press release stated. All of these implementations promote student success and satisfaction, according to George D. Kuh, director of the Center for Postsecondary Research Faculty at Indiana University and an expert on factors that effect retention and graduation rates. The University hopes increases won’t stop here — UVM’s goal is to achieve a retention rate of 92 percent and a six-year graduation rate of 83 percent for all students by 2020, the press release stated.