<p>Anyone know about the graduation rates at Towson, Salisbury, GMU and UT Dallas? As a parent, I am right to be concerned about sending my child to a school with a higher graduation rate?</p>
<p>This site has some good stats. Type in your college on the right.</p>
<p>[American</a> School Search | Your Guide to Colleges and Schools in the USA](<a href=“http://www.american-school-search.com/]American”>http://www.american-school-search.com/)</p>
<p>Do take that with a grain of salt though; I found some completely false information present, which was a huge cause for concern from my perspective.</p>
<p>I like the DoE College Navigator site but I don’t place as much value on grad rates because they simply measure the number of first-time, full time freshmen of a particular cohort (say 2003) who graduate within 6 years from that school. They don’t measure transfers (in or out) or part time students. There are many reasons why students leave a school, including deciding to enter the workforce instead, so I don’t think it necessarily says much about the school itself. Public schools, for example, may have a higher rate of transfers out so undergrads can finish their degrees at a “name” school. Some schools have a number of combined programs which are normally 5-6 years in length and it sounds as if those students may also be excluded from the data. If they reported the reasons why students left (ie an exit interview survey) that would be more useful.</p>
<p>■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ is the best site I know of for graduation rates. As far as I know, the numbers are authoritative. 6-year graduation rates for the schools you mentioned are:
Towson - 66.4%
George Mason - 58.3%
Salisbury - 67.9%
UT at Dallas - 55.5%</p>
<p>I do think it is important to understand the graduation rates. Some school have low graduation rates because they enroll a lot of kids with poor preparation for college, or a lot of kids from low income families who have financial issues that cause them to drop out. The ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ site displays the percentage of Pell grant recipients, which is an indication of how many low income students they enroll. You can also look at graduation rates by gender and ethnic group, which can be informative.</p>
<p>I would like to get some information on what leads students to require 5-6 years to graduate. Are students cutting back to part-time for financial reasons? Or is it impossible to get the courses they need in the sequence they need them to complete requirements in four years?</p>
<p>In some majors there is some controversy about the attempt to fit everything in 4 years. I’m thinking of some of the engineering majors in particular. Some schools have gone to 5 year programs, but since that can make them look less competitive in the eyes of students concerned about paying even for 4 years, schools don’t want to go that route. So they present the student with an overloaded schedule that many can’t get through in 4 years, in the hopes of getting them in the door.</p>
<p>dadx3: Thanks so much for the web site. I am going to look at it. I think graduation rates are important. Some of the highest ranked schools have the highest graduation rates. In particular, I think it is important to look at the supports provided at the school even if you do not have an IEP.</p>
<p>■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ - the graduation rates look too low. Are you sure this is a reliable web site? Any other good places to check graduation rates?</p>
<p>I believe that it is reliable. Do you have a subscription to USNews?</p>
<p>Here is another site. I plugged in Towson, so maybe that will come up first for you:</p>
<p>[College</a> Navigator - Towson University](<a href=“College Navigator - Search Results”>College Navigator - Towson University)</p>
<p>Your first jumping off point can be the good ole college board website</p>
<p>also consider looking for the common data sets for each school</p>
<p>George Mason</p>
<p>[George</a> Mason IRR- Common Data Set](<a href=“http://irr.gmu.edu/cds/cds_new/index.cfm]George”>http://irr.gmu.edu/cds/cds_new/index.cfm)</p>
<p>6 year graduation rate 63%</p>
<p>you can also try</p>
<p>[IPEDS</a> Data Center](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/]IPEDS”>Use The Data)</p>
<p>Agree that the best place to get data on a school is from the school’s own Common Data Set.</p>
<p>Just do a search with the name of the school and “common data set” to see if the school has it posted on the internet.</p>
<p>Also, Deskpotato asked why it is taking so many kids more than 4 years to graduate. It has been explained to me that one of the contributing factors is students changing majors (sometimes more than once) and that requires them to take additonal courses that put them into a fifth year.</p>
<p>I’ve always thought the collegeresults numbers were pretty accurate. From GMU’s common data set, here are their 6-year graduation rates by entering year.</p>
<p>1999 cohort - 51.6%
2000 cohort - 56%
2001 cohort - 59.4%
2002 cohort - 61%
2003 cohort - 63%</p>
<p>The 58.3% rate I got from collegeresults was for 2007, which probably corresponds to the 2001 cohort. That’s very close to the 59.3% GMU reports in their CDS, but not exactly the same.</p>
<p>One thing I like about the collegeresults site is that you can look to see how graduation rates compare for similar institutions, based on size, selectivity, and type (BA, MA, research U, etc.). Also, the differences (or similarities) between graduation rates for white or Asian females and black or hispanic men, for example, are quite interesting. Some colleges manage to achieve similar graduation rates for these two groups, while at other colleges the differences are quite large.</p>
<p>"The College Board reports that college students are taking an average of six years to complete their undergraduate degrees, if they graduate at all. In 2007, only 37 percent of students obtained their bachelors degree in four years. Perhaps most alarming though is the fact that graduation rate after six years is only 57 percent, meaning 43 percent are either spending more than six years in school or, more likely, never finishing their degree at all.</p>
<p>Why is the average college student taking so long to finish up his or her studies? The answer is multifaceted.</p>
<p>One of the most problematic factors in the six year college plan is the high rate of transferring between schools. Approximately sixty percent of students transfer schools at least once in their college career. Usually this can be attributed to a poor match between the student and the school. Perhaps the college doesnt offer the major the major the students wants or the school is too large for the personalized learning the student needs or the social scene doesnt match the students personality. Regardless of the reason the student leaves, the new school may not be so understanding, especially when it comes to transferring credits between schools. If, for example, a student transfers from a large research institution where they took many technical or pre-professional credits into a liberal art school, those pre-professional credits may not count, especially if they are not in a field offered at the new school."</p>
<p>Another reason sited is the student needing a course(s) to complete major requirements or core distribution requirements and being repeatedly unable to register for the course or due to poor advising, being unaware that they needed to take this course to graduate.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how the graduation rate is calculated? Does it include transfers in/out? Those on military or medical leave? Part-time students? Students who started college then took a break to work or travel? Those who dropped out due to family financial reverses? Is the rate for the most recent six-year period … or a blend of several six-year periods?</p>
<p>For example, compare Salisbury with Towson based on collegeresults:</p>
<p>Salisbury
6-year Grad Rate: overall 67.9%, white female 75.5%, black male 41%
Towson
6-year Grade Rate: overall 66.4%, white female 71.1%, black male 64.6%</p>
<p>These two colleges have similar median SATs, with similar percentages of Pell grant and Under Represented Minorities. If I were considering these schools I’d want to do more digging to understand why the graduation rates for the different genders/ethnic groups are so different.</p>
<p>Re how graduation rate is calculated - if you look at the common data set for a school - they lead you through the math step-by-step. It would not be impacted by those who leave to join the military - I recall seeing a special line for that.</p>
<p>The national average 6-year graduation rate at selective private schools is 68.2% - stat from ACT - lower than I would have expected - but I think transfers really affect this number.</p>
<p>^ I’m still having trouble making the GMU numbers work out:</p>
<p>2656 first time, full&part time students enrolled<br>
[George</a> Mason IRR- Common Data Set](<a href=“http://irr.gmu.edu/cds/cds_new/sec_action.cfm?year=2009-10&sec_id=C]George”>http://irr.gmu.edu/cds/cds_new/sec_action.cfm?year=2009-10&sec_id=C)</p>
<p>2600 transfer students enrolled
[George</a> Mason IRR- Common Data Set](<a href=“http://irr.gmu.edu/cds/cds_new/sec_action.cfm?year=2009-10&sec_id=D]George”>http://irr.gmu.edu/cds/cds_new/sec_action.cfm?year=2009-10&sec_id=D)</p>
<p>4381 UG degrees awarded
[Mason</a> to Graduate 7,783 Students at 2010 Commencement – University News - George Mason University](<a href=“The George | George Mason University”>The George | George Mason University)</p>
<p>Doesn’t that calculate to 83%?<br>
4381/(2556 + 2600) = .833</p>
<p>2,190 enrolled in the fall of 2003 (adjusting for 1 who joined the military, was deceased, etc.) and 1,390 graduated within 6 years equals 63%.</p>
<p>See Graduation Rates:</p>
<p>[George</a> Mason IRR- Common Data Set](<a href=“http://irr.gmu.edu/cds/cds_new/sec_action.cfm?year=2009-10&sec_id=B]George”>http://irr.gmu.edu/cds/cds_new/sec_action.cfm?year=2009-10&sec_id=B)</p>
<p>Transfers into the school do not come into the calculation.</p>
<p>The calculation is simply how many entered the school in the fall of 2003 and how many graduated within 6 years from the school. (The only adjustment is to the entering number in the fall of 2003 for people passing away, joining the military, becoming disabled, foreign aid service of the federal government, or official church missions.)</p>
<p>they use 6 year rates because if they actually used a 4 year rate, we would be even more shocked at how little our money actually buys. What a scam.</p>