Page 82 - Crisis in Higher Education

56 • Crisis in Higher Education

4. Private, not-for-profit universities have the best performance.
Although these institutions tend to have much higher tuition and
fees, their applicants’ families tend to have higher incomes so stu-
dents do not have as many concerns about financing their educa-
tion or holding a job while attending school. Second, the applicants’
parents are more likely to have earned at least a bachelor’s degree,
so the parents and students know their way around institutions of
higher learning. Third, these institutions tend to have higher admis-
sion standards and are more selective, so their students tend to be
better qualified.
5. Many public institutions have very high standards, standards that
are comparable to elite private schools, but there are public insti-
tutions that are labeled “open enrollment,” which normally means
these institutions accept anyone with a high school degree. It is
possible to graduate from high school with less than a C average
and attend a public university. So a student with a 1.3 high school
grade point average (GPA) may be admitted and is expected to
graduate with a 2.0 GPA from a university. As expected, open-
enrollment, public institutions have poor six-year graduation rates
(32.9%). Universities that admit 90% or more of their applicants
have a slightly better six-year graduation rate of 46.9%. Table 3.2
shows that the graduation rate increases substantially as public
universities become more selective. The six-year graduation rate
for public institutions that admit less than 25% of their applicants
is 84.8%. 4

TABLE 3.2
Six-Year Graduation Rate for Public Universities
by Percent of Applicants Admitted
Public University
Admission Rate Six-Year Graduation Rate
Open enrollment 32.9%
90% or more accepted 46.9%
75 to 89.9% accepted 53.7%
50 to 74.9% accepted 61.4%
25 to 49.9% accepted 61.4%
Less than 25% accepted 84.8%
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Fast Facts,
2015. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40