Author: Stephen P. JoyPublisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 19
Book Description
College graduation rates are a source of concern; many students fail to complete degree programs and therefore miss out on the socioeconomic benefits accruing to college graduates. Some have proposed that colleges be evaluated based on their graduation rates, with financial aid dollars directed away from poor performers. However, none of these proposals have taken student characteristics into account. Drawing data from the federal government's college scorecard, graduation rates were analyzed in terms of student academic readiness (SAT scores) and financial instability (percentage eligible for Pell grants) for every private four-year college and university in the Northeastern United States, excluding certain highly specialized schools or those (mostly for-profit institutions) that failed to report adequate data. The results were cross-validated on two other populations: colleges situated in the Midwestern United States and those in a selection of Southeastern states. All told, the samples included 558 colleges located in 24 states (plus the District of Columbia) end enrolling slightly over 1,500,000 undergraduates. SAT scores and Pell-eligible population account for 74-83% of the variance in graduation rates. Analysis of residuals enables identification of relatively more (or less) successful colleges: those graduating a higher (or lower) proportion of their students than would be expected given the qualities of those students. This leads to a number of interesting findings. For example, historically Black institutions tend to do quite well at guiding students through to graduation, while those focusing on STEM fields tend to have lower graduation rates. The most important conclusion is that any attempt to evaluate colleges based on graduation rates needs to begin with the characteristics of their entering students.