Graduation Rates and Accountability

I read with great interest a recent thread on NCU's graduation rate. It appears that at the federal level the Higher Education Re authorization act is going to force schools to report their graduation rates. Overall, I believe this is a good thing that will force institutions to be more accountable.

There are a host of interesting challenges in this:

1. Differences in programs - The problem of measuring graduation rates varies by degree program. Community colleges, for example, face the reality that many of their students never bother to graduate with an associates degree when their real goal is to earn a bachelors. Is it fair to say that a CC "succeeds" when one of their students subsequently enrolls in a four year program?

Doctoral programs have unique characteristics too. Traditional B&M programs in my experience vary from schools with very tough admission standards (with higher graduation rates) and schools with less strict admission standards (with higher flunk out rates). The on-line and short residency programs are different - with the recent exception of the DBA program at NSU (which is working hard to reduce the size of its program to just 100 students as part of their AACSB bid), admission standards appear to be pretty open. Drop-outs occur a number of reasons - in my experience largely self-induced by students that have life challenges and simply can't continue (or graduate in the specified time limit). Dissertations can be a real challenge for students - especially when they are geographically remote and they don't have the enforced discipline of a class with a syllabus.

2. It would appear that the for-profits have a big issue to face. Why should the government provide significant dollars in financial aid to students at for-profits that graduate relatively few students?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/education/24colleges.html

3. Schools with more open admissions standards can certainly raise the question - "Why should we be penalized for being a school of opportunities for students that others don't want?" Indeed, expensive privates can pick and choose who they admit. CCs generally can't say "no" to anyone with a high school diploma. For-profits don't want to miss the dollars and have such a growth focus that they can't turn anyone down.

I find this to be an interesting topic in higher education. With the government focusing on graduation rate, I suspect many schools will work to find ways to increase their graduation rate. Overall, this seems like a good thing.

Regards - Andy

 

One of my major factors when I was researching colleges were their graduation rates, and I was amazed how difficult this information was to obtain on certain colleges. Some are more forthcoming then others with their graduation rates, and some even broke it down by level or degree, and I remember looking at one that even posted the graduation rate by major (Although I cannot remember for the life of me which college that was).

My university has an undergraduate graduation rate of 67%, which was pretty good according to my research at the time. I believe most people, at least here on DegreeInfo, know to look into a colleges graduation rate. However, I'm sure there are many individuals who are not that savvy.

If the government plans to force colleges to post this information, its going to be interesting to set back and watch the show . . .

opcorn: