When I visit colleges, I always ask what the four-year graduation rate is. Admissions reps, believe it or not, often don’t know, or hem and haw, which is what happened at Marquette last week (it’s 57%). Many factors contribute to poor on-time graduation rates. And in fact most kids from affluent communities are doing much better than the average. But graduation and retention statistics can be useful for other reasons. If a school isn’t retaining and graduating its students at a high and timely rate, what weaknesses does it reveal?
A couple of cases in point: Columbia College Chicago and Warren Wilson College (in N. Carolina). Columbia attracts students who want to be in the arts, while Warren Wilson is a haven for environmental science hippie-types. They are specific-fit schools, and many parents are happy when their child finds a school that seems perfect. But Warren Wilson has only a 69% retention rate and a 39% four-year graduation rate (only 50% for six years). Columbia’s is 63% retention, 32% four-year; and 40.6% six-year. One factor, exemplified in Columbia’s poor rates, is cost—kids rack up student loans to enroll, then are unable to renew them or become too debt-laden. Many also drop out. At Warren Wilson, many kids just dropped out It’s not just budding rap artists, theatre majors, and organic farmers who call it quits (or transfer) from schools, but these are especially low figures. Consider how these rates of attrition affect student life, the concept of community and student body as a whole at schools with higher rates of transience. And what does it say about an institution’s commitment to proper advising and career guidance? What about for the students who can’t finish, and stay…and stay….?
Those two bleak-case scenarios could be considered outliers because of the types of schools I exampled, except for the fact that they’re not that uncommon. At conventional schools it isn’t always that much better–take as Indiana University (58% in four years) or Purdue (a paltry 37%). You can argue, “That won’t be my kid,” but to be sure, it’s good to take a look at a school’s advising system. Kids underperforming with the bare minimum of semester credits, or not getting critical advice on majors and their requirements, presage warning signals that as an upperclassman they may be scrambling to avoid the cost of a fifth year’s tuition. Take a look at this report “The Four-Year Myth” for an analysis of what colleges can and are doing to increase four-year graduation rates.