Our D22 is seriously considering schools in Arizona. She loves the Honors Colleges offered at both. In looking at stats for degree completion, I started to get concerned:
ASU: 51% graduate in 4 years; 63% in 8 years. (27% transfer and 9% withdraw)
UofA: 49% graduate in 4 years; 64% in 8 years. (28% transfer and 8% withdraw)
Comparing, for example with the flagships in Florida:
UF: 67% in 4 years; 88% in 8 years. (10% transfer, 1% withdraw)
FSU: 72% in 4 years; 81% in 8 years. (16% transfer; 3% withdraw)
Does anyone know what drives the high ‘transfer rates’ out of Arizona Universities?
Does anyone have data on how much more stable the graduation rates are for Honors College students at these schools?
Thank you in advance. We’d love to see her happy and thriving at either of these schools, but just need some help getting past the concerns raised by this data.
Both universities are not that selective at the low end of student stats. For example, ASU is automatic admission for any of top 25% rank, 3.00 HS GPA, ACT 22 (24 non-resident), or SAT 1120 (1180 non-resident), although some majors have higher requirements. https://admission.asu.edu/first-year/apply
In general, graduation rates tend to track admission selectivity, with some influence from affordability issues (more influence from affordability issues for less selective colleges that low SES students are more likely to attend). But an honors student who is not in danger of running out of money should have a chance of graduating significantly higher than the overall average.
The actual graduation rate for students who entered the ASU/Barrett program six years earlier, whether or not the students remained in honors is 90.0%.
And according to the same source, the actual Grad Rate at University of Arizona Honors (actual grad rate for students who entered the program six years earlier, whether or not the students remained in honors) is 84.4%.
The school I work at (private school, Southern California) sends kids to ASU and U of A every year and from what I hear, they all graduate in four years. I don’t know if they were in the honors program, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. Our school is a college prep school, where every graduate goes to college and they’re generally well prepared for college level work. As far as staying at both schools all four years. I haven’t heard of anyone who has transferred…
Money. Florida schools are relatively cheap and the students can afford them. Other schools, even state schools, have a lot of students who need to take a semester or two off and work to save up, or just transfer to a cheaper school.
ASU is also HUGE and has a lot more students who aren’t putting school first. It is pretty hard to get into UF.
You need to also consider, both of these schools are somewhat urban and many students work as they attend, and just take longer to graduate. Kind of like the reason behind poor graduation rates at community colleges. The drop doesn’t mean they all transferred out.
It could be that ASU gives such generous out of state merit scholarships, but then requires a minimum gpa to renew it each year.
I’d allow DD to go out of state on merit, but if she lost her scholarship then she’d be transferring instate before I considered paying 30K/year just for tuition.
ASU also has some difficult majors. It took my younger brother 5.5 years to get his engineering degree there.
It’s probably because of the number of out of state students. For most parents, sending a kid out of state is fine if all the stars align. In real life, they usually don’t, and they have to transfer back home where it’s cheaper.