@doschicos “I can only read the beginning of the article because it is behind a paywall but that figure quoted - 53% - is from 2 and 4 year colleges not just 4 year.”
Almost half of students nationally have not graduated in 6 years, and even if you only count 4 year institutions, you only get to 59% according to this: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d16/tables/dt16_326.10.asp (no pay wall).
Again, I would not be opposed to high schools caping the number of AP classes a student can take, but I think that a reasonable number, done properly, is very helpful to students and prepares them for college. If someone has a plan that will ends AP exams and improve college readiness and college completion rates, I am completely open. However, I have heard no one claim that.
@UCBalumnus “It is likely that many of those who have started college but have not graduated 6 years later stopped attending college much earlier (e.g. after 1-2 years), or are still attending on a part-time basis (often at a low cost commuter college), rather than having attended an expensive college for 6 years.”
Clearly there are some. Still, I don’t think that changes the point that earning AP credit trims the cost of college and improves graduation rates. That has to be a good thing. I do agree though that it would be beneficial for high schools to do a better job of managing how many AP’s students take.
@lookingforward “I’d have liked to see the flip side: are there more students taking longer, but still graduating, eventually?”
I would be interested too, but remember, this is already the 6 year rate, not the 4 year rate. I think you would pick up a hand full of students at 7 and 8 years, but after that few people ever finish.
I think it highlights that people comparing colleges often focus heavily on cost, when they should pay more attention to graduation rates than they do. You aren’t saving that money if your student takes longer to graduate or never graduates.