A report from the American Enterprise Institute titled Diplomas and Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don't) raises an important issue.  Is there something wrong with the system if only 53 percent of students entering four year colleges are graduating from those colleges within six years?

If a college maintains high standards, then doesn't it have an obligation to either not admit students who aren't capable of meeting those standards, or to provide the support necessary so that the students it does admit can develop the skills necessary to succeed? Blaming the students for not being adequately prepared suggests that college faculty, staff and administrators are powerless to respond and to actually educate anyone other than the most capable and best prepared entering students. The report puts the lie to this claim by grouping colleges by admissions selectivity, and then showing that while it is true that the most selective colleges have higher graduation rates, among open admission and less selective colleges there are large differences in graduation rates.  If a college is on the low graduation rate end for its level of selectivity, it must not be doing things that support student success which are done at the colleges with similar selectivity and higher graduation rates.

The argument that students are likely to transfer so we shouldn't worry about low graduation rates is hard to take seriously at most institutions.  While there are colleges that intend to prepare students to transfer to other schools, these are typically two year colleges rather than four year colleges.  A college offering four year degrees enrolls students who express an interest in earning a four year degree.  If the students enroll intending to transfer to a better school, what does that say about the quality of degree programs being offered?  If you work for a college where your own students are telling you they would rather go to a different college, you need to improve the quality and value of what you are offering to students. Hiding behind the transfer argument so you don't have to face what low graduation rates are telling you about your school is not going to serve your students or your college well.

One final thought on this report.  If you considering colleges and one has a higher graduation rate than another, you should weigh that in your decision about where to apply and where to enroll.  Keep in mind, however, that even if only one in four students graduates from the college where you enroll, your job as a student is to make sure you are that one in four who walks across the stage with degree in hand.  Just as colleges shouldn't let themselves off the hook if they have low graduation rates, you shouldn't let yourself off the hook by excusing your own failure to graduate by saying that many or even most students at your college don't reach that goal.