Student grades, retention slip at WCU With the first full semester of pandemic instruction now in the books, preliminary numbers at Western Carolina University show dips in fall-to-spring retention and student grades compared to previous years. “We’re kind of playing without a playbook,” Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Richard Starnes said in an interview. “All of our statistical data is based on historical trends. So when you have a once-in-a-lifetime type of event such as the pandemic, it kind of throws all your assumptions out the window.” Last year, 92.9 percent of freshmen who enrolled for the fall semester returned in the spring, and while statistics for the 2020-2021 school year won’t be final until mid-February, the figure has been fluctuating around the 88 percent mark since early December. Starnes said the decrease was disappointing, but expected.