COLLEGE TOWN, Fla. — FSU saw a historic 99.2% first-year retention rate this spring semester with 6,400 students returning. Students cite community, a walkable campus, and strong connections as key factors that led them to come back.
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Florida State University faculty report students are returning at historic levels this semester, with the university achieving a remarkable 99.2% first-year student retention rate for spring 2026.
That translates to roughly 6,400 first-year Seminoles choosing to continue their college journey at FSU, marking a significant milestone for the Tallahassee institution.
I spoke with students about what draws them back to campus, and the overwhelming response centered on community and connection.
"FSU is a really special college. There are not a lot of campuses that have a student body that's so close. I think, just the fact that everything is so walkable and there's so many events constantly. It makes it so easy to just like make friends and have fun," student Nicole Web said.
The sense of community extends beyond campus activities. For many students, FSU represents a unique living situation where friendships flourish through proximity.
"The only time in my life that I'm going to live so close to all my favorite people in the world. I'm friends with my classmates, so it's a very big sense of community here that I can just like walk for five minutes, and then I'm in my best friend's house and then you know we're all together all the time," Alexa Felipe said.
DeOnte Brown, FSU's Dean of Undergraduate Studies, attributes these retention numbers to intentional investments in student support and engagement.
"The great aspects of FSU is our people. We really believe in the student-to-faculty, students-to-staff connection and support here. I'm so behind every student, there is their success team, and we want to make sure that they are connecting students to academic advising, to undergraduate research opportunities, that they're finding ways to connect with their friends, their faculty members," Brown said.
The university's commitment to retention extends beyond first-year students. FSU also recently set another record with 97% first-year retention, meaning students who started as first-year students in fall 2025 returned for their second fall semester.
Brown emphasized that strong retention rates don't just reflect current student success. They can also lead to higher graduation rates in the future.
University leaders say these historic numbers follow deliberate investments in support programs and engagement opportunities designed to keep students connected to campus life and academic success.
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