I see that there is a statistic where the graduation rate is 83% within 6 years. Does anyone know what the rate is for 4 years? Is 4 years realistic or is Clemson a 5-6 year school because you can’t get the classes you need to graduate? Just trying to understand if I’m paying $50k over 4 years or 6???
Clemson’s four-year graduation rate is 59 percent in the last report. While these numbers may look low, they are not atypical for large state universities. Many are lower. You can compare Clemson to other schools by looking up “common data set” for any college. You can also go to collegenavigator.gov and look at any college.
I should have pointed out that they only report four- and six-year rates, nothing in between. So six-year graduation rate could be anything from four years plus one semester to six years.
Clemson has quite a few engineers. Some engineers take longer because of co-ops.
It also depends on your kid. Mine knew that she was limited to 8 semesters/4 years because of scholarships. She might have been able to do a co-op, but she wasn’t that interested. Four years, 8 semesters, in and out.
Also, many students love Clemson so much that they don’t want their undergraduate years to end in just 4 years.
D is a senior nursing student at Clemson who will graduate on time in May. She’s had a few friends who have needed one extra semester to graduate. One is a bioengineering major who has had several coops/ internships which caused the delay . That student already has a few job offers for when she is done in December. Others are mostly engineering majors as was pointed out above . Most of the students d has known over the years are very ambitious and hardworking and if they are graduating late it is not due to them struggling or not getting classes they want but due to internships, changing majors etc. On a good note, D and her nursing friends are all in the middle of interviewing for jobs right now since this is when many of the hospitals start interviewing, and she has mentioned that most of her senior friends in other majors have had job offers since fall.
Thank you very much - my D is an engineering major so we’ll need to factor in a co-op opportunity for her.
I don’t know how it works at Clemson, but at my daughter’s college, there is only a $450 co-op fee to be paid when students are working off campus, so even though technically it adds a year to graduation, it doesn’t add cost because students are still on campus for only 8 semesters. They aren’t paying tuition or room/board while they are working.
Plus, engineering co-ops pay very, very well (I’m still shocked at what companies are willing to pay kids with zero work experience!) and many companies will pay the co-op fee on top of everything else.