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Among bachelor's degree seekers beginning at a 4-year institution in 1995–96,
just over half graduated from that institution within 6 years. The overall bachelor's
degree attainment rate was higher because some students transferred and earned a
degree elsewhere.
Postsecondary institutions and other organizations frequently report graduation rates for
4-year colleges and universities. ACT, for example, publishes 5-year graduation rates
for different types of institutions each year, and the National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA) is required by law to report
6-year graduation rates annually for each member
institution.1
However, the institutional perspective provides only a partial picture of students' success
because institutions are rarely able to track students who leave their institution.
Calculating graduation rates from the student
perspective involves following students throughout
the postsecondary system. This approach results in higher graduation rates because some
students who begin at one institution earn a degree elsewhere.
Among students who intended to earn a bachelor's degree and began their post-secondary education at a 4-year institution in 1995–96, 55 percent had earned a
bachelor's degree at that institution within 6 years.
However, approximately one-quarter of those seeking a bachelor's degree transferred from
their first institution and continued their
education elsewhere. When the outcomes for these
transfer students are considered, the cohort's
overall bachelor's degree attainment rate
increases to 63 percent.
Attainment rates and transfer behavior differed for students who began at public versus
private not-for-profit 4-year institutions. For
example, students who began at public institutions
in 1995–96 were less likely than their peers who began at private not-for-profit institutions to
earn a bachelor's degree at their first institution
(50 vs. 65 percent), more likely to transfer to another institution (24 vs. 21 percent), and
less likely to attain a bachelor's degree at any
institution within 6 years (57 vs. 73 percent). In both the public and private not-for-profit
sectors, students who began at doctorate-granting institutions were more likely than those who
began at nondoctorate-granting institutions to earn
a bachelor's degree either at their first institution
or overall (see table 20-1).
1ACT reports are available at http://www.act.org/news/releases/
2001/update.html; the NCAA reports are available at http://www.ncaa.org/.
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