{"id":4034,"date":"2016-03-07T09:49:08","date_gmt":"2016-03-07T14:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utimes.umpi.edu\/?p=4034"},"modified":"2025-08-23T17:33:42","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T21:33:42","slug":"what-graduation-rates-dont-show-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2016\/03\/07\/what-graduation-rates-dont-show-you\/","title":{"rendered":"What Graduation Rates Don\u2019t Show You"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Don\u2019t trust graduation rates as the pulse of a university. Instead, look at its student support system. Ask how proficiency-based education is being integrated. Look into a university\u2019s demographic: whom do they serve? Graduation rates don\u2019t tell you the whole story.<\/p>\n

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Student retention is a big deal for college campuses. Keeping students and helping them graduate means support in both academics and social integration.<\/p>\n

UMPI has two groups to help improve retention: the Behavioral Intervention Team and the Student Success and Retention Council. They work with faculty and staff and perform academic checkups on students. This helps students stay on task. More engaged students have a better chance of graduating.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you making connections? Do you have friends on campus?\u201d Vanessa Pearson, director of student success, said. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely doing everything we can to make sure they\u2019re successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a university can only offer so much support. When it comes down to a student\u2019s success, it\u2019s ultimately up to the student.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeventy percent of our students in a given year are considered at risk students,\u201d Ray Rice, UMPI provost, said. \u201cOur students come from working-class families facing the challenges that working-class families face.\u201d<\/p>\n

UMPI deals with many students who start and stop. Students come and go for various reasons. Pearson said a big reason for students\u2019 leaving is the price of going to college.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cost is expensive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cU.S. News and World Report\u201d did, however, rank UMPI among the top 5 Regional Colleges in the North for graduates with least debt in 2014.<\/p>\n

But despite national rankings, the nature of the economy puts a strain on students. That means most students have to work while they\u2019re in school.<\/p>\n

Graduation rates shared by the federal government don\u2019t give you the latest results. Without recent data, the public doesn\u2019t get the full story on how well a college is performing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may take eight years to finish (their degrees),\u201d Jim Stepp, UMPI dean, said.<\/p>\n

Graduation rates are tricky for UMPI. Students who start and stop aren\u2019t counted on graduation rates by the federal government.<\/p>\n

According to higheredinfo.org, in 2009 the U.S. graduation rate for six-year bachelors\u2019 degree students was 55.5 percent. In 2006, UMPI\u2019s graduation rate for six-year bachelors\u2019 degree students was 37 percent. But in 2008, the six-year graduation rate made its way up to 46 percent.<\/p>\n

The increase is a great thing for the campus. It could be because of changes suggested by enrollment specialist Roger Sullivan. He worked with administrators to find ways of increasing retention.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe helped us look at the big picture of enrollment management,\u201d Erin Benson, director of admissions, said. \u201cWe\u2019re beginning to incorporate his ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

First generation students can also put pressure on retention. First generation students are the first in their family to attend college. So if a first generation student isn\u2019t familiar with college life, the odds that that student may drop out increase.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re used to college life you\u2019re more apt to stick around and graduate,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n

Early evidence shows proficiency-based education is having positive results for UMPI. That could help with retention<\/p>\n

\u201cMy gut tells me yes, but we don\u2019t have all the data yet. But the early data show a correlation to what \u00a0the campus is doing and it looks good,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Proficiency-based education could give struggling students a helping hand. The introduction of the non-proficient grade is new to UMPI. NP grades give students an extra chance to prove what they know. That chance could help with retention.<\/p>\n

If students receive a NP grade they have 30 days to revise any work. Those 30 days could help a student get a stronger grade. There\u2019s no extra cost to the 30 days. The results could show more mastery of the content, Rice said.<\/p>\n

With the efforts the campus is putting forth to improve retention, Rice said he\u2019d like to see a 50 percent six-year graduation rate.<\/p>\n

Graduation rates only give you a bird\u2019s-eye view of how well a college is doing. It\u2019s only on the ground level that you find the pulse of a campus, where you can speak to someone face-to-face.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t trust graduation rates as the pulse of a university. Instead, look at its student support system. Ask how proficiency-based education is being integrated. Look into a university\u2019s demographic: whom do they serve? Graduation rates don\u2019t tell you the whole story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":169,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4034"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9041,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4034\/revisions\/9041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}