Page 80 - Crisis in Higher Education

54 • Crisis in Higher Education

3.3 LOW GRADUATION RATES AND
EXTENDED COMPLETION TIME

Students who are admitted to colleges and universities often face a high
dropout rate, and many who graduate are likely to spend more than
four years earning their degree. The reasons are many and include the
following:

1. Students are not well prepared or have trouble learning so they must
take remedial courses, which increases their completion time and
encourages them to drop out.
2. Students do not have the funding and leave school for a semester
or two so they can earn money, and sometimes they decide not to
return.
3. Students work part- or full-time for financial reasons, which allow
less time for studying and causes them to take fewer courses each
term, thereby extending their completion time.
4. Students may not be strongly motivated and not put forth full effort,
or they may choose not to take a full load of courses each term so
they have more free time.
5. Students hold scholarships with a minimum grade point average.
Poor performance may cause them to forfeit their scholarships and
drop out.
6. Tenured faculty members create curricula that cannot be completed
in four years, which may discourage some students and cause others
to take more than four years to graduate.

The extent of the problem regarding low completion rates and extended
time for earning a bachelor’s degree is shown in Table 3.1. Data for 2007 from
the National Center for Education Statistics show that the percent of students
completing a four-year degree in four years is poor at 39.4% for all types of
institutions offering a bachelor’s degree. Public universities are at 33.5%, which
is a dismal showing, whereas private, not-for-profit universities are signifi-
cantly higher, but still a poor showing of 52.8%. Private, for-profit universities
have a miserable 22.5% completion rate in four years. As expected, the six-year
graduation rate is higher at 59.4% for all four-year institutions. The rates for
public universities, private, not-for-profit universities, and private, for-profit