Stonehill Graduation Rate Well Above National Average

June 08, 2009

 
View a video clip from Fox News Indiana about the American Enterprise Institute graduation rate survey. (Windows Media Player required.)

A survey of completion rates at colleges and universities across the country shows Stonehill has a graduation rate 32 percent higher than the national average. Additionally, the College's 85 percent completion rate topped a list of schools with a very competitive selectivity rating.

The report entitled Diplomas and Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don't) was recently released by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). It highlights the dramatic variation in completion rates across nearly 1,400 colleges and universities. Selectivity ratings for each school, ranging from non-competitive to most competitive, were based on Barron's Profiles of American Colleges.

The study shows that nationally, four-year colleges graduate an average of 53 percent of entering students within six years. In Massachusetts, Stonehill is one of 17 schools out of 58 total with graduation rates of 80 percent or higher. It also ranks third (behind Atlantic Union College and College of Our Lady of the Elms) among schools in the state with the lowest tuition rates and graduation rates 85 percent or higher.

"At Stonehill, our secret is simple: we challenge our students, but we help them to meet the challenge," said Katie Conboy, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. "Our high graduation rate reflects a college-wide commitment to each student's integration into the campus community and to each student's academic and personal success."

Co-author of the study Mark Schneider told USA Today that as graduation rates grow increasingly central to discussions about accountability, families ought to be thinking that way too. "We are emphasizing transparency and urging students to factor graduation rates into decision-making," said Schneider.

A summary of the report states: "The highest- and lowest-ranked very competitive institutions have graduation rates that are also seventy-seven percentage points apart. Colorado Christian College graduates only 8 percent of its students, tying the national low, while the graduation rate of Stonehill College in Massachusetts is ten times higher (85 percent).

"Even at the very competitive level, the ninety-two schools in the bottom third fail to graduate more than 50 percent of their students on average. Meanwhile, the ninety-two institutions in the top third graduated 74 percent of their students, with Stonehill and Pennsylvania State University leading the way."

Chart from Enterprise Institute (AEI) Report "Diplomas and Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don't") A copy of the full report, is available here. (Adobe Acrobat required.)

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