Does a low indication rate always indicate a lower quality of education? Or can it indicate difficulty instead?
Thanks
It could mean that the college is easy to get into, hard to graduate from. Low admission standards gives students an opportunity. Some waste that opportunity or simply cannot handle the academics.
It could be indicative of students needing to work to afford college. It tends to happen more with regional state schools.
It could also mean that the school deliberately takes a risk on the students it admits. The tippy top schools tend to admit students who would graduate wherever they go. Some schools may be more inclusive but are taking a bet on some students.
And yes, it could say something about affordability.
I can also think of one smaller school that has excellent teaching but fewer course offerings. It’s not unusual for a student to transfer when they find a passion at a school but realize they can’t feed it there.
As with so many of these things, it means you need to seek additional information.
Lower graduation rates usually indicate that the college is less selective.
Agree its mostly the dedication of the students. More selective schools attract more capable students who tend to stay on track, get good grades, etc.
Counseling may also be better at these schools.
Non-traditional students have poor graduation rates, so schools that take these will score lower.
I disagree that it’s mostly the lack of student dedication or students wasting opportunities. Low grad rates most correlate with low socio economic status of the students. To afford 8-10 straight terms of tuition, while working a part time or full time job, with parents or kids to take care of – is the reality for many many many of our fellow citizens.
If you happen to have the luxury of having ONLY to take out some loans and do some work study, while parents/grand parents chip in for tuition and spending money – so you can get your bachelors degree in 4-5 years, consider yourself EXTREMELY BLESSED. Millions of your fellow citizens would give an arm to have that luxury.
It’s hard to graduate if you have to make rent and utilities and groceries, pay child support or raise kids b/c of non-receipt of child support.
There are two measures: 4 year and 6 year. In some programs, at some schools, it isn’t as easy to cmplete some majors in 4 years. That happens. The 6 year rate gives a better view.
Yes, it can mean some larger proportion of part-time or returning students than you might see at other colleges or LACs. A few years ago, you could see this in the grad rates of some otherwise pretty respected state schools. Surprised me, in fact.
But you also have to know the top schools provide a high level of academic support and mentoring, to get those grad rates. And they look for kids who show they can self advocate if they start to hit a wall (ask for help and engage with it.)
In some schools and programs it can be hard to get required classes - ie California. Can be an issue for a 4 yr grad rate - 6 yr unlikely an issue.
Graduation rate is probably the best single indicator of educational quality. The “official” graduation rate used by the US Dept of Educ is the 6 year rate unless the college has 5-year programs in which case the “official” rate is 7.5 years. There are strict guidelines for reporting grad rates. Grad rates are for “first-time, full-time” students. About 75% of grad rate can be explained by selectivity, 25% due to various other factors.Schools heavy in engineering and STEM students tend to have slightly lower grad rates relative to their selectivity. US News reports an overperformance/underperformance statistic for grad rates that is interesting. Tech-heavy schools tend to underperform slightly, probably due to program difficulty.