According to this site FIT has a relatively low retention rate and a low graduation rate of about 50% can someone please verify the accuracy of this or explain the reason behind this?
Graduation rate correlates to the student profile (aka SAT/ACT scores) and major.
FIT’s student profile is similar to UCF’s and USF’s. The 4 and 5 year graduation rates are on par with UCF and USF. The problem is with the overall graduation rate, which is affected by the people who fail out when they get into the upper level classes. Most of the students at FIT are science or engineering majors, which are notoriously difficult. Science and engineering programs have high drop out rates at every school. Other universities have higher overall graduation rates though due to arts and social sciences, which FIT does not offer.
The transfer rate is due to most of the students being from out of state and the cost of tuition. Out of state students are much more likely to transfer since they end up missing their friends, family, and familiar surroundings. Out of state students don’t receive Bright Futures Scholarships either, which lowers the cost of attending FIT. A lot of people come here for a year or 2 then transfer to cheaper state universities. At FIT you pay for small classes. Classes are about half the size of most of the state universities in Florida.
I also think you’re paying a bit for the location. The Space Coast is a hot spot for high tech business. Many people apply and come to FIT since they want to work in space or aviation.