The Important Number That Families Ignore June 22, 2009
Ian Welham on college graduation rates.
The other night I was at a barbeque and took an informal poll. I asked all the adults what they thought the average graduation rate was for four-year colleges. The guesses were all over the map, but the average was around 75 – 80 percent.
So they were all quite surprised when I told them the actual number is 53%.
According to a report issued by the American Enterprise Institute, four-year colleges graduated an average of just 53% of entering students within six years. This is based on data reported by over 1,300 colleges and universities.
While it’s not surprising to see colleges such as Harvard , Notre Dame and Stanford with graduation rates of 95% or greater, it is shocking how common 40% and 50% graduation rates are. In New Jersey, Princeton University is tops at 95%. The state average for New Jersey colleges and universities is 57.3%. Some examples:
- College of New Jersey (83%)
- Drew University (71%)
- Farleigh Dickinson (51%)
- Kean University (42%)
- Monmouth University (60%)
- Montclair State (61%)
- Princeton (95%)
- Ramapo College (65%)
- Rider University (58%)
- Rowan University (64%)
- Rutgers (73%)
- Seton Hall University (57%)
- Stevens Tech (76%)
- William Patterson Univ. (47%)
Are some of these numbers surprising to you? They were to me. A couple things stood out for me when looking at the numbers. One is the wide discrepancy among schools with comparable admissions standards. For example,
Providence College graduated 87% of its incoming freshmen, while Stony Brook graduated only 59%. James Madison achieved a 81% graduation rate while the University of Louisville was barely half that, at 41%.
As a parent, don’t you want to know these numbers? Even at top schools, it’s not uncommon for 15% – 20% of freshmen to drop out. This can lead to awkward conversations for parents whose family car is covered with bumper stickers from the “name” college when junior doesn’t make it to sophomore year.
College-bound students today will research how many Starbucks are on campus or what kind of smoothies are served in the dining hall – but they don’t bother to check what their odds of graduating are.
Certainly there are a number of reasons why not all freshmen don’t make it to their class’s graduation ceremony. A number of them transfer to other institutions (indeed, the American Enterprise Institute study does not factor in this important variable). Some are not up to the rigors of a university education (most educators say this is more due to motivation than intelligence). Others drop out for financial reasons – either through poor planning or job loss, unexpected medical expenses, etc.
Even factoring in these wildcards, doesn’t a school’s graduation rate speak to its commitment to fulfilling its mandate? Don’t the numbers suggest that some schools are more effective at educating similar students? At the very least, shouldn’t they be an important calculation in your decision-making process?
You can find your school or read the complete study at
http://www.aei.org/docLib/Diplomas%20and%20Dropouts%20final.pdf
