<p>OP here. I don’t have time to pull up my data right now.
The two schools that I have a concern about are Univ of Montana and Montana State U. They are both safety schools but in many ways they might just be the right fit for this kid of mine. Plus the price is right.
From her list of applied schools as acceptance rate goes down and price goes up the retention and graduation rates go up. We will not qualify for need based aid and merit aid and tuition prices are a huge consideration.</p>
<p>mom60:</p>
<p>We are also looking at the Montana schools and the University of Wyoming for my Junior S (for the same reasons as you…low cost and good merit aid). Montana is the 43 ranked state for household income. Wyoming has a very low percentage of residents with college degress. Both are also very rural states and have many high school graduates that are very underprepared for college. In addition, they are essentially open enrollment for instate students. All of these factors (and more) combine to make for lower graduation rates.</p>
<p>I personally am not worried about it. I teach at a large research university with about a 64% 6 year grad rate. Wyoming has about a 55% grad rate.</p>
<p>Wyoming is trying some programs to mitigate their low grad rate…</p>
<p>Plan to boost college readiness…
[UW</a> Trustees Vote to Boost College Readiness](<a href=“http://www.uwyo.edu/uw/news/2011/11/uw-trustees-vote-to-boost-college-readiness.html]UW”>UW Trustees Vote to Boost College Readiness | News | University of Wyoming)</p>
<p>Freshman Interest Groups…
[Freshman</a> Interest Groups | University of Wyoming](<a href=“404 - Page Not Found”>First Year Interest Groups (FIGs) | Living & Learning Communities)</p>
<p>“But living off campus, not with family, was worse.”</p>
<p>Usually an effort to economize. Or a commuter school with lower tuition. Or living on campus required an expensive food contract. But student is still at risk.</p>
<p>I worked at a college with one of the worst graduation rates in the country. There were many reasons for this. Beyond the typical (commuter school, many low-income first-generation students, urban area with horrible public schools, etc), there are other factors: part-time students, nothing-better-to-do students, need-to-be-in-school-to-continue-collecting-my-assistance students, keep-changing-my-major students, probably-won’t-ever-make-it-through-because-I-was-never-really-prepared-to-start-with students … then there is the issue of classes being closed, students dropping part way through because they think they’ll do better next time, family issues getting in the way, programs being eliminated … and on and on.</p>
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<p>I can see this. I think this is the worst possible living situation for a freshman. Students who live in the residence halls meet people there. Those who live with their families can often maintain their pre-existing social relationships. But freshmen living off-campus can be very isolated.</p>
<p>Living off campus later in college is a very different experience – even though upperclassmen living off campus live in the same neighborhoods as freshmen living off campus. </p>
<p>Personally, and based on the experiences of my own two kids (both of whom graduated on time, by the way), I think living off campus as an upperclassman can be a very positive thing. Most students whom I have known who live off campus have had their own bedrooms as well as access to a shared kitchen in their house or apartment, which is a lot nicer than living in a dorm double. The experiences of looking for an apartment, finding roommates, dealing with the landlord and utility companies, and paying rent and other bills regularly are good practice, in my opinion, for post-college life, and the living conditions are often (though not necessarily) nicer than in the dorms.</p>
<p>When I looked at these rates I saw a coorelation of retention and graduation with the selectivity of the college. The more selective the college the better the two rates. I don’t mean the percentage admitted either. I am talking about the middle 50% range for SAT/ACT and GPA of the students admitted. The better prepared a student is to take on college, the better chance the student will graduate on time.</p>
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<p>I think that students with higher GPAs and SAT/ACT scores also tend to be more committed to the idea of going to and graduating from college and more confident that college is the right post-high school choice for them.</p>
<p>I personally consider graduation rates to be important in the college search, especially the 4-yr rates (except for schools with co-op or other 5-yr programs). Because there is a correlation between selectivity level and graduation rate, I think it is important to compare a college’s graduation rate with its selectivity peers. So, if it a college has a notably higher or lower 4-yr grad rate than schools with similar SAT ranges and acceptance rates, it makes me take notice.</p>
<p>Four calendar year graduation rates can be misleading due to co-ops and such (even when a school is not specifically a co-op-for-everyone school, varying numbers of students do co-ops when it is optional).</p>
<p>Perhaps it would help if graduation in eight semesters or twelve quarters of school were also noted.</p>
<p>I didn’t put much value on published graduation rates. I knew that only about 1/2 the kids that start college finish for all the usual reasons so seeing very low graduation rates didn’t phase me. The kids know that getting a degree is important. They knew they were being funded for only 4 years and they did “good research” and chose places that fit them in all the ways that were important to them. Finally, in general the kids were finishers…they completed things they started and they were very self sufficient. I also think they were well prepared for the colleges they chose and went into the colleges in the top quartile from a very competitive high school. The only thing I feared was the dreaded fall transition and worrying that they would party themselves into suspensions, but they didn’t. Generally if you can clear that hurdle, clear the declaration of a major hurdle sophomore year and the early junior year slump when classes get tough and they have to knuckle down they will finish. And really that is the brass ring…more than the admission in my book.</p>
<p>You would think that colleges have a few different issues. Big universities sometimes make it very difficult for students to be able to get their required classes in on a timely basis. But at some point they probably need to get these kids graduated to make room for the students coming up behind them. And seriously, who wants to send their kids to a school with 17% graduation rate?</p>
<p>This was posted by dadwithmodem last week. It’s a little hard to tell from his intro paragraph but I think he’s saying that all schools on this list have at least a 85% retention and grad rate. We’re looking at a couple on this list and I know that applies for at least those two.</p>
<p>“This list was generated from IPEDS data base run by the US Department of Education, using these parameters: small colleges that admit at least 40% of applicants and have at least a 85% retention rate and 6-yr graduation rate. It is a short list and only 5 of the schools admit more than 60% of applicants.”</p>
<p>Name % Admitted %Retained Undergrad Enrollment</p>
<p>Babson College 40% 92% 1956
Brandeis University 40 94 3316
Denison University 49 90 2255
Fairfield University 65 88 3382
Franklin and Marshall 45 92 2280
Furman University 68 92 2623
Gustavus Adolphus 70 91 2424
Illinois Wesleyan 62 93 2088
Lafayette College 42 95 2362
Macalester College 43 94 1987
Muhlenberg College 48 92 2370
Occidental College 42 91 2076
Skidmore College 47 95 2690
St. Olaf College 57 93 3105
Trinity College 43 91 2182
Union College 42 91 2170
Wheaton College (IL) 66 96 2362
Whitman College 47 93 1528</p>