USNWR 2009: Looking at the Data XXII (6-Year Graduation Rates)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>The publication of the 2009 USNWR College Rankings provides an opportunity to compare schools based on a wide variety of data points. In this and in threads to follow, I urge the reader to think less about the absolute rankings and more about the nature and value-added of the data point being discussed. </p>

<p>6-Year Graduation Rate , National University</p>

<p>97% , Harvard
96% , Yale
95% , Princeton
95% , Stanford
95% , U Penn
95% , Brown
95% , Notre Dame
94% , Columbia
94% , Duke
93% , MIT
93% , Dartmouth
93% , Northwestern
93% , U Virginia
93% , Georgetown
92% , Wash U
92% , Cornell
92% , W&M
91% , Johns Hopkins
91% , Rice
91% , Vanderbilt
91% , Boston Coll
90% , U Chicago
90% , UCLA
89% , Caltech
89% , Tufts
89% , Wake Forest
88% , Emory
88% , UC Berkeley
88% , U Michigan
88% , Brandeis
87% , Carnegie Mellon
85% , USC
85% , UC Santa Barbara
85% , Yeshiva
84% , NYU
84% , UCSD
84% , Penn State
83% , U North Carolina
83% , Lehigh
82% , U Illinois
82% , Rensselaer
81% , U Rochester
81% , Case Western
81% , U Florida
80% , U Wisconsin
80% , UC Irvine
79% , UC Davis
78% , Georgia Tech
78% , U Texas
76% , Tulane
75% , U Washington</p>

<p>6-Year Graduation Rate , LAC</p>

<p>96% , Amherst
95% , Williams
94% , Swarthmore
94% , Pomona
93% , Carleton
93% , Vassar
93% , Wesleyan
92% , Wellesley
92% , Davidson
91% , Middlebury
91% , Haverford
90% , Colgate
89% , Bowdoin
89% , Claremont McK
89% , W&L
89% , Bates
88% , Hamilton
87% , Grinnell
87% , Colby
86% , Smith
86% , Macalester
84% , Harvey Mudd
84% , Bryn Mawr
83% , US Military Acad
82% , Oberlin
82% , US Naval Acad</p>

2

<p>The most impressive graduation rates are from some of the schools with large, difficult engineering schools like Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Cornell. Notre Dame's graduation rate is higher than you would expect. Why don't the publics have higher graduation rates? They are less expensive and students probably drop out for reasons other than finances. Graduation rates are closely related to SAT scores and rarely differ by more than 3% from what you would expect based on SATs.</p>

3

<p>HYP with the highest graduation rates out of the Top 10, and Chicago/Caltech with the lowest? Hmm... I wonder why that could be.</p>

4

<p>
[quote]
Why don't the publics have higher graduation rates? They are less expensive and students probably drop out for reasons other than finances.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Students often take longer to graduate BECAUSE the tuition is cheaper. You can afford to take study/work abroad trips, co-ops, while students at more expensive schools want to get out as soon as they can.</p>

5

<p>and I wouldn't call Princeton's engineering enrollment large, it's about 17% of the total undergraduate enrollment.</p>

6

<p>
[quote]
Why don't the publics have higher graduation rates?

[/Quote]
</p>

<p>Your data only shows the rate at which people graduate from ANY major at a school, not just the major they chose initially. I have only a small sample of friends that went to MIT, but less than half were engineering majors by the time they graduated. The liberal arts and business schools are booming at engineering universities.</p>

7

<p>


</p>

<p>Not so. I think the lower graduation rates at publics are largely finance-related. The publics generally have less money available for financial aid, so despite their lower nominal COA, net COA (after financial aid) is often higher at publics for lower-income students. Many students enroll in publics expecting to self-finance a significant fraction of their college education through term-time and summer employment, coupled with the occasional semester off to work. That means more semesters spent as a part-time student, or not taking any classes at all. Many enroll fully expecting NOT to graduate in four years. Here in Minnesota, a large fraction of enrolling freshman at our public flagship say they're coming in "on the six-year plan," meaning they intend to take six years to graduate, paying a large fraction of the cost themselves. This is often with eager approval of their parents who in many cases self-financed their own college educations, and whose Midwestern work ethic tells them that a college education bought and paid for by the student will mean more than an education received as a gift from the parents. But it's not as easy as it used to be to pay one's own way through college. Consequently, it's not unusual for the "six-year plan" to slip to seven, or eight, or never be completed as the part-time or occasional student gets tied down in jobs, relationships, parental responsibilities, and so on. For that reason the University is now making enhanced financial aid a top priority.</p>

<p>It's different in the well-endowed privates. Financial aid is often generous enough to limit the number of hours a student is expected to work during the school year. Fewer students are part-time, in part because the work demands are fewer, in part because full financial aid isn't available for part-time students. The expectation is that students will graduate in four years, and the financial aid clock is a powerful enforcer of that expectation as financial aid may not be available after the fourth year.</p>