Page 94 - 2020 Statistical Abstract

Graduation Rates Terminology

150% Program Time – The length of time it will take a student enrolled full-time to complete a specific degree plus an additional 50% of time.
Examples of standard 150% times are three years for an Associate’s degree and six years for a Bachelor’s degree.

Cohort Exclusions – Students who were initially counted in a cohort and left the institution without a degree can be removed from subsequent
cohort counts used to calculated retention and graduation rates for the following reasons:

• Death or severe disability
• Service in the armed forces (including those called to active duty)
• Service with a foreign aid service of a foreign government
• Service in official church mission

Full-Time, First-Time Undergraduates – The CHE follows IPEDS methodology for constructing fall cohorts based on the students who enter an

institution during the fall semester as full-time, degree-seeking students. Students who enter an Institution for the first-time during Summer
semesters are also included in the fall cohort. First-time, part-time and first-time, non-degree-seeking undergraduate students are not
included in the cohort base used to measure graduation rates.

Graduation Rate – The rate required for disclosure and/or reporting purposes under the Federal Student Right-to-Know Act. The IPEDS
Graduation Rate Survey (GRS) defines the cohort of students to be included each year as the first-time, full-time degree-seeking students

entering an institution each fall. This rate is calculated as the total number of completers within 150% of normal program time divided by the
cohort base minus any allowable exclusions.

Success Rate – The CHE success rate, in addition to the graduates included in the graduation rate cohort, includes as part of the completion group

those students who are still enrolled at the same institution during the Fall term following 150% of program time and students who transfer to
other institutions before 150% of program time.

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