Six-Year Graduation Rates For Colleges

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USA Today has a great article and companion graph (very interactive) that show the six year graduation rates for colleges across the country. The graph is located here. The article is here.

While six-year rates don't tell the whole story, it does speak to the difficulty at which students can get courses, or are kept in school.

How long did it take for you or your student to graduate from college? If it took longer than four years, was it because of having to work, or having difficulty getting required classes, or something else?

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I see my son's college is at 67 %, so somewhat higher than the average.

My son will have 42 credits at the end of his summer, about 1/3 of what he needs and most of his gened requirements done. Now, he can focus on his major, and can easily spend one semester abroad, as planned. Hopefully, he can take his time studying what he really cares about (once he decides what it is) and improve his GPA as he wants to continue further than his Bachelor Degree.

My son graduated in three and my other in four. Colleges these days are very eager to encourage the extra year of college - and the extra year of tuition in their pockets. My own older son started talking about 'not rushing through', 'taking his time', 'finding the right courses' almost as soon as he got to college and was told - nicely - that at the price his college was charging - he was fortunate his parents were helping him pay for four years and there was no way we were paying for an extra year.
He made it in four - my other one took classes in the summer so he could get out in three. Interestingly his college passed a rule that said No One could be a part-time student the semester before graduation - why? Because many students had taken all the courses they needed to graduate but for two - they could go part-time and save a great deal of money so the college passed a 'no part-time students in the last semester before graduation' rule thereby obligating families to pay yet another semester of high tuition.
Colleges may be wonderful places to get an education but the cost of them and their gouging policies are worthy of question.

On the news, I heard that on average, only 1 out of every 2 students (53%) actually graduates from college after 6 years.

I participated in the co-op (work/study) program at my college and graduated in 4 1/2 years, which was considered "right on time." Having the work experience in addition to the diploma made me "highly marketable" and I'm glad I went that route.

My son's college program, even without work-study, already shows a 4 1/2 year course curriculum, but since he's switched to a different engineering major, I doubt he'll finish sooner than 5 years, even under the best of circumstances....

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