Decreasing graduation completion rates in the United States
Encyclopedia
The Graduation
completion rate is the measure reflecting the amount of student
s who complete their graduation
and receive a degree
from an educational institution. The drop-out
rate is the measure reflecting the amount of students who disengage with the educational institutions they are enrolled in. Those measures are calculated by The National Center for Education Statistics(NCES), the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.The US Department of Education - Institute of Education Sciences and the National Center for Education Statistics use those measures to analyze the success or the failure of the students and of the American educational system.
Graduation rate has become a growing concern in the United States
as it has been decreasing over the past decades. High-school
dropout and College
dropout affect the completion rate as well as the system at large. The percentage of dropouts among 16- to 24-year-olds has shown some decreases over the past 20 years. However, the substantial growth in college enrollment among high school graduates has not been matched with a comparable expansion in college degree attainment.
The decrease of completion rate among college students has economical, educational and political implications. At a time of historic budget shortfalls, increasing the college completion rate has been a challenge in the United States. To help colleges and universities in particular improve rates of degree completion, states try to find more efficient ways to spend.
A study by the Higher Education Research Institute
of the University of California
underlines that in 1994, fewer college students were completing their college in four years than in 1984. The completion rate within four years was 36.4%, whereas it was 46.7% in the late 1960s. The degree completion when the students were allowed to graduate in six years was 58.8% in 1994. "The fact that these public-private differences decline somewhat when six-year rates are used suggests that students in the public colleges and universities are taking longer to complete their degrees," says Professor Alexander W. Astin
, co-author of the study and Director of the Higher Education Research Institute
. The current trend is of longer time spent to graduate than it was 50 years ago.
completion rate are the lower preparation level of the student
s and the small allocation of resources dedicated to instruction and institutional choices, according to Bound, Lovenheim and Turner and their study on "Understanding Decrease in Completion Rates and Increase in Time to Degree". The resources allocated to institutions haven't been enough to offset the increase of new students enrollment in higher education
institutions.
or more. Massachusetts
is the state where the completion rate is the highest with 37.8% of citizens 25 years and older having a bachelor degree
. In West Virginia
, the completion rate is the lowest with only 17,1% of the population having bachelor's degree
s.
In his 2010 State of the Union Address
, President Obama
said that he wants the United States to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. To reach this "big goal", American college graduates should increase by 50%, adding at least 8 million additional graduates. Obama said that increasing college completion rate is important to increase economic opportunities and lower social costs for individuals.
programs provide students the opportunity to receive a high school diploma and an associate's degree
, or up to two years of credit toward a bachelor's degree, in four years. Students take a mixture of high school and college classes in order to obtain their high school diploma and associate's degree
. Each early college high school is a public school and open to any residents in the school district. Early colleges have the advantage of allowing student an alternative to the traditional access to diplomas.
of America's workers. In 2008, 46% of all undergraduate students in the US attended community college
s. Long and Kurlaender studied the graduation differences between community college
s and universities
and found that community college students were 14.5% less likely to complete their degree within 9 years as opposed to students in universities.
s and universities. Successful transfer to 4-year institutions is an issue that concerns every higher educational institution. Academic preparation in high school and solid coordination with those institutions are highly suitable for improving graduation rates.
A study conducted by the College Board
, “Education Pay,” shows that level of graduation significantly affects earnings. Earnings tend to increase as education level increases. The numbers show that with no high school degree, the average income is $24,300. With a bachelor's degree
, it raises up to $55,700. With a master's degree, the average income is 67,300$.
and Delta Cost Project study how to reallocate the limited resources in ways that can increase college completion rates. Studies suggest that in order to respond to this issue of low graduation rates, states should focus on long term policy rather than short-term fixes. The re-examination of how resources are allocated would help to improve the higher education system and avoid drop outs. Several studies have been conducted in order to guide policies toward better ways to manage resources and drive expenditures.
Webber and Ehrenberg studied the overall impact and the institutional-level impact based on institutional average SAT scores and the average federal Pell Grant
given to students at the institution. They found that an increase in expenditures on instruction and student services resulted in higher education rates. The reallocation of resources from instruction to student services would result in a consequent increase in graduation rates. The researchers underline that the institutions with students academically unprepared or economically disadvantaged have interests in investing in student services, even before investing in instruction, if they want to see their graduation rate increase.
On March 22, 2011, Vice-President
Joe Biden
declared “Right now we've got an education system that works like a funnel when we need it to work like a pipeline... We have to make the same commitment to getting folks across the graduation stage that we did to getting them into the register's office. The dreams and skills of our college graduates will pave the way to a bright economic future for our nation”.
A New College Completion Tool Kit has been developed by the federal government
to help the governors and state governments develop better strategies for higher-education
promotion.
The solutions proposed by the College Completion Tool Kit urge government to set up financial incentive
s to increase completion rate. The federal government advises to base funding formulas on enrollment rate but also on performance measures and outcome indicators. In order to improve institutions of higher education, states and public policies should:
proposes solutions to increase college completion rates and to meet President Obama's graduation goal. The strategies highlighted by The Lumina Foundation for Education are to increase the rate at which students complete college and to provide ways for adults in the workforce to return to college to complete degrees.
In Louisiana, the college attainment rate is 27%. In order to reach the "big goal", Louisiana would need to increase its annual degree production by 8.2%. The Lumina Foundation for Education advises some strategies:
Louisiana's challenge is to increase college students' success for working adults, low income students, first generation students and minority students.
said in its January 2010 issue that this rate fails to count students who take a long time to complete their degrees. They qualify the rate as “an incomplete measure of institutional quality. The data describes a minority of all enrolled students, counting only full-time, first-time students who enroll in the fall and complete degrees within "150 percent of normal time"—six years for students seeking bachelor's degrees. The graduation rate excludes students who transfer to other colleges and earn degrees there. It also omits students who transfer in and graduate. By one estimate, the rate ignores up to 50 percent of all enrolled students”.
Graduation
Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...
completion rate is the measure reflecting the amount of student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s who complete their graduation
Graduation
Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...
and receive a degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
from an educational institution. The drop-out
Dropping out
Dropping out means leaving a group for either practical reasons, necessities or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves....
rate is the measure reflecting the amount of students who disengage with the educational institutions they are enrolled in. Those measures are calculated by The National Center for Education Statistics(NCES), the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.The US Department of Education - Institute of Education Sciences and the National Center for Education Statistics use those measures to analyze the success or the failure of the students and of the American educational system.
Graduation rate has become a growing concern in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as it has been decreasing over the past decades. High-school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
dropout and College
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
dropout affect the completion rate as well as the system at large. The percentage of dropouts among 16- to 24-year-olds has shown some decreases over the past 20 years. However, the substantial growth in college enrollment among high school graduates has not been matched with a comparable expansion in college degree attainment.
The decrease of completion rate among college students has economical, educational and political implications. At a time of historic budget shortfalls, increasing the college completion rate has been a challenge in the United States. To help colleges and universities in particular improve rates of degree completion, states try to find more efficient ways to spend.
Historical background
Degree completion has been decreasing since 1970. Bound, Lovenheim and Turner studied in 2009 why the college completion rate declined. Their main explanations of the decreasing rate are the changes in student preparation and the collegiate resources. The authors explain that between 1970 and 1999, post-secondary institutions saw a significant increase in enrollments and, at the same time, a decrease in college completion. “Partly as a consequence of the substantial increase in the college wage premium since 1980, a much higher fraction of high school graduates enter college today than they did a quarter century ago. However, the rise in the fraction of high school graduates attending college has not been met by a proportional increase in the fraction who finish.”A study by the Higher Education Research Institute
Higher Education Research Institute
The Higher Education Research Institute serves as an interdisciplinary center for research, evaluation, information, policy studies, and research training in postsecondary education. HERI is housed in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at the University of California, Los...
of the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
underlines that in 1994, fewer college students were completing their college in four years than in 1984. The completion rate within four years was 36.4%, whereas it was 46.7% in the late 1960s. The degree completion when the students were allowed to graduate in six years was 58.8% in 1994. "The fact that these public-private differences decline somewhat when six-year rates are used suggests that students in the public colleges and universities are taking longer to complete their degrees," says Professor Alexander W. Astin
Alexander Astin
Dr. Alexander W. Astin is the Allan M. Carter Professor Emeritus of Higher Education and Organizational Change, at the University of California, Los Angeles....
, co-author of the study and Director of the Higher Education Research Institute
Higher Education Research Institute
The Higher Education Research Institute serves as an interdisciplinary center for research, evaluation, information, policy studies, and research training in postsecondary education. HERI is housed in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at the University of California, Los...
. The current trend is of longer time spent to graduate than it was 50 years ago.
Main causes
The main causes of the decreasing collegeCollege
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
completion rate are the lower preparation level of the student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s and the small allocation of resources dedicated to instruction and institutional choices, according to Bound, Lovenheim and Turner and their study on "Understanding Decrease in Completion Rates and Increase in Time to Degree". The resources allocated to institutions haven't been enough to offset the increase of new students enrollment in higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
institutions.
Current situation
The US Census Bureau in 2009 reported that, nationally, 9% of 18-24 year-olds and only 27.5% of these 25 years and older had a bachelor's degreeBachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
or more. Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
is the state where the completion rate is the highest with 37.8% of citizens 25 years and older having a bachelor degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
. In West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, the completion rate is the lowest with only 17,1% of the population having bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
s.
In his 2010 State of the Union Address
2010 State of the Union Address
The 2010 State of the Union Address was given by United States President Barack Obama on January 27, 2010, to a joint session of Congress. It was aired on all the major networks starting at 9 p.m. ET...
, President Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
said that he wants the United States to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. To reach this "big goal", American college graduates should increase by 50%, adding at least 8 million additional graduates. Obama said that increasing college completion rate is important to increase economic opportunities and lower social costs for individuals.
Early colleges
Early colleges have lower drop-outs rate than community colleges and universities.The early college high schoolEarly College High School
The Early College High School Initiative provides students the opportunity to receive a high school diploma and an Associate degree or up to two years of college credit...
programs provide students the opportunity to receive a high school diploma and an associate's degree
Associate's degree
An associate degree is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by community colleges, junior colleges, technical colleges, and bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study usually lasting two years...
, or up to two years of credit toward a bachelor's degree, in four years. Students take a mixture of high school and college classes in order to obtain their high school diploma and associate's degree
Associate's degree
An associate degree is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by community colleges, junior colleges, technical colleges, and bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study usually lasting two years...
. Each early college high school is a public school and open to any residents in the school district. Early colleges have the advantage of allowing student an alternative to the traditional access to diplomas.
Community colleges
Community colleges have the mission to provide better access to higher education and graduation for under-served populations. Greater access and success in post-secondary education is a primary element for decreasing income inequalities and increasing the productivityProductivity
Productivity is a measure of the efficiency of production. Productivity is a ratio of what is produced to what is required to produce it. Usually this ratio is in the form of an average, expressing the total output divided by the total input...
of America's workers. In 2008, 46% of all undergraduate students in the US attended community college
Community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
s. Long and Kurlaender studied the graduation differences between community college
Community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...
s and universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
and found that community college students were 14.5% less likely to complete their degree within 9 years as opposed to students in universities.
Universities
In universities, efforts are made on targeting the “at-risk” students to avoid drop outs, and creating aligned programs for better coordination between high schoolHigh school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
s and universities. Successful transfer to 4-year institutions is an issue that concerns every higher educational institution. Academic preparation in high school and solid coordination with those institutions are highly suitable for improving graduation rates.
Economic implications
The education requirements for the jobs in 2018 are planned to be for 10% less than high school, for 28% a high school degree, for 17% associate's degree, for 12% some college, for 23% a bachelor's degree and for 10% a graduate degree.A study conducted by the College Board
College Board
The College Board is a membership association in the United States that was formed in 1900 as the College Entrance Examination Board . It is composed of more than 5,900 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations. It sells standardized tests used by academically oriented...
, “Education Pay,” shows that level of graduation significantly affects earnings. Earnings tend to increase as education level increases. The numbers show that with no high school degree, the average income is $24,300. With a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
, it raises up to $55,700. With a master's degree, the average income is 67,300$.
Public policies
Organizations and associations such as Lumina Foundation for EducationLumina Foundation for Education
Lumina Foundation for Education is a private, Indianapolis-based foundation with about $1.4 billion in assets. Its mission is to expand student access to and success in education beyond high school...
and Delta Cost Project study how to reallocate the limited resources in ways that can increase college completion rates. Studies suggest that in order to respond to this issue of low graduation rates, states should focus on long term policy rather than short-term fixes. The re-examination of how resources are allocated would help to improve the higher education system and avoid drop outs. Several studies have been conducted in order to guide policies toward better ways to manage resources and drive expenditures.
Webber and Ehrenberg studied the overall impact and the institutional-level impact based on institutional average SAT scores and the average federal Pell Grant
Pell Grant
A Pell Grant is money the federal government provides for students who need it to pay for college. Federal Pell Grants are limited to students with financial need, who have not earned their first bachelor's degree or who are not enrolled in certain post-baccalaureate programs, through participating...
given to students at the institution. They found that an increase in expenditures on instruction and student services resulted in higher education rates. The reallocation of resources from instruction to student services would result in a consequent increase in graduation rates. The researchers underline that the institutions with students academically unprepared or economically disadvantaged have interests in investing in student services, even before investing in instruction, if they want to see their graduation rate increase.
On March 22, 2011, Vice-President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
declared “Right now we've got an education system that works like a funnel when we need it to work like a pipeline... We have to make the same commitment to getting folks across the graduation stage that we did to getting them into the register's office. The dreams and skills of our college graduates will pave the way to a bright economic future for our nation”.
A New College Completion Tool Kit has been developed by the federal government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
to help the governors and state governments develop better strategies for higher-education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
promotion.
The solutions proposed by the College Completion Tool Kit urge government to set up financial incentive
Incentive
In economics and sociology, an incentive is any factor that enables or motivates a particular course of action, or counts as a reason for preferring one choice to the alternatives. It is an expectation that encourages people to behave in a certain way...
s to increase completion rate. The federal government advises to base funding formulas on enrollment rate but also on performance measures and outcome indicators. In order to improve institutions of higher education, states and public policies should:
- strengthen high school academic rigor
- make “college prep” the default track in high school
- create opportunities for high school students to earn college credits
- develop and implement aggressive outreach strategies to reengage adult students who have received some college training short of certificate on degree attainment but dropped out
- restructure remedial education to meet individual student needs successfully
- restructure post-secondary education delivery to ensure that students complete their degrees in a timely manner
The case of Louisiana
The Lumina Foundation for EducationLumina Foundation for Education
Lumina Foundation for Education is a private, Indianapolis-based foundation with about $1.4 billion in assets. Its mission is to expand student access to and success in education beyond high school...
proposes solutions to increase college completion rates and to meet President Obama's graduation goal. The strategies highlighted by The Lumina Foundation for Education are to increase the rate at which students complete college and to provide ways for adults in the workforce to return to college to complete degrees.
In Louisiana, the college attainment rate is 27%. In order to reach the "big goal", Louisiana would need to increase its annual degree production by 8.2%. The Lumina Foundation for Education advises some strategies:
- to target Louisiana residents who have completed some college without earning a degree
- to target parishes and regions in greater needs and to focus the state's effort there
Louisiana's challenge is to increase college students' success for working adults, low income students, first generation students and minority students.
Controversy
The graduation completion rate is contested. The Chronicle of Higher EducationThe Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty, staff members and administrators....
said in its January 2010 issue that this rate fails to count students who take a long time to complete their degrees. They qualify the rate as “an incomplete measure of institutional quality. The data describes a minority of all enrolled students, counting only full-time, first-time students who enroll in the fall and complete degrees within "150 percent of normal time"—six years for students seeking bachelor's degrees. The graduation rate excludes students who transfer to other colleges and earn degrees there. It also omits students who transfer in and graduate. By one estimate, the rate ignores up to 50 percent of all enrolled students”.
External links
- http://www.democrats.org/news/blog/boosting_college_graduation_rates_across_the_country
- http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/college_completion_tool_kit.pdf
- http://www.nber.org/
- http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/
- http://nces.ed.gov/
- http://www.ed.gov/
- http://chronicle.com/article/Graduation-Rates-Fall-at/125614/
- http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/?level=nation&mode=graph&state=0&submeasure=27
- http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/CollegeForAll/completion.html
- http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/vice-president-biden-issues-call-action-boost-college-graduation-rates-nationwid
- http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011015