More people are going to college than ever before, but they’re still not graduating. According to an article by Ashley Marchand in the Chronicle of Higher Education:
College enrollment continues to rise, and student aid along with it, but graduation rates have remained level, according to 2008 data released on Tuesday by the U.S. Education Department’s statistical arm.
About 57 percent of first-time, full-time students pursuing bachelor’s degrees at four-year institutions completed their degrees within six years at the colleges where they had begun their studies, the same rate as in the 2007 data, the National Center for Education Statistics reported in an analysis drawing on a series of surveys.
College enrollment is growing. College graduation isn’t. This means, in effect, that more people are going to college, and getting loans to do so, but they’re not doing very well once they get there.
About 65 percent of students attending private colleges graduated in six years. Only about 55 percent of public college students graduated within sex years of entering their institutions.
Cue the “too many people going to college” crowd, who will surely look upon this latest information with great enthusiasm.
