For an Ohio University student, the college experience is an irreplaceable time of personal growth and value, but also one that most students try to finish in four years.
But after four years, more than half of OU's first-year class of 2003 still had time to spend in the classroom. Forty-eight percent of that class graduated from OU in Spring 2007, according to the Office of Institutional Research. Students who transferred counted against the graduation rate.
While OU's average four-year graduation rate of 67 percent still ranks highest among Ohio schools with similar undergraduate enrollment, research is still being done to raise the percentage.
The quick answer about differences (in graduation rates) has to do with different graduation requirements
different levels of admissions selectivity and different freshman retention rates Michael Williford, associate provost for Institutional Research and Assessment, said in an e-mail.
A study of freshman retention done by the Office of Institutional Research in November 2007 showed that freshman retention rates have a distinct correlation with graduation rates.
The study focuses on first-year students because attrition most often occurs after a student's first year, as opposed to in between quarters.
Broken up, the colleges with the highest first-year retention rate in 2003 were the Honors Tutorial College (93 percent), the College of Business (89 percent), the College of Health and Human Services (88 percent) and the Scripps College of Communication (87 percent).
These colleges also held the highest four-year graduation rates in 2007.
Not far behind is the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, with an 86 percent freshman retention rate in 2003; however, only 26 percent of these students graduated in 2007.
I do not see that our graduation rates are low relative to other colleges that have similar admission standards said Ken Sampson, associate dean of Academics for the engineering college, in an e-mail.
Sampson said even with lower admission standards, the college of engineering features a difficult course load, especially for first-year students.
Despite all the efforts (to assist students)
the Russ College has a very high rate of students on probation after their first quarter
Sampson said.
Because of this, he added, some of those students may choose a new major outside of the college or change universities altogether, affecting the graduation rate.
The engineering college's 38 percent five-year graduation rate, however, is the highest at OU. The College of Education comes in second at 23 percent.
About 25 percent of the engineering college's majors, excluding aviation, participate in a five-year cooperative education program that combines class work with career experience.
Calculating graduation rates for college athletes is slightly different.
The NCAA measures athletes' graduation rates by the Graduation Success Rate (GSR). If a student is academically eligible to compete, a transfer for athletic reasons will not affect the GSR. But if the transferring student is ineligible then the transfer counts against the GSR.
For both men and women, golf had the highest GSR, graduating 100 percent of eligible students. Women's athletics also boasted a 100 percent GSR for the field hockey and swim teams.
If you compare us to other programs
you're going to see a lot of high numbers
said Jason Kelly, director of Academic Services for the athletics department. Nobody has low numbers.
Differences in GSR between various sports can usually be attributed to the time- demands of each sport and the size of the team, Kelly said.
Overall, one factor proves vital to students' successes, said Jan Hodson, assistant dean of the Honors Tutorial College. If you've got really good students coming in who are academically motivated
that's the first step
Hodson said.
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