68. Who Graduates in Four Years?

To determine the impact of advising by the Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP), names from its electronic database (in the software Prep HQ) of former advisees in the Class of 2004—the first loaded online—were submitted to the Ohio College Access Network (OCAN) to check matriculation and graduation rates with the National College Clearinghouse data. Of the 568 advisees in that class, 389 (68.49%) matriculated.

From the total number of advisees, 78 (13.73%) had already graduated college in 4 years: 73 had earned 4-year degrees, while 5 completed two-year degrees. The largest number of advisees had graduated from Youngstown State University (20), with 14 others receiving degrees from The Ohio State University and 8 from Kent State.

Other statistical analyses examined certain high school data (including grade-point average and ACT composite score) for both the college graduates and the non-degreed former MVCAP advisees from the Class of 2004 who were still enrolled in college during 2008. For those 78 students who had already earned their two- or four-year degree in 2008, the average GPA was 3.58; the average ACT composite score was 23.47. (Indeed, for these graduates, only 5 had GPAs lower than 3.0 and but 9 had ACT composites lower than 20.) For those students who had not yet earned their two- or four year degree in 2008, but who were still enrolled in college, the average GPA was 3.08; the average ACT composite score was 20.68.

These findings seem to suggest what might be viewed as a “common-sense” hypothesis: those high school graduates who matriculate and continue in pursuit of their degree will have been “good students” in high school; those who graduate from college in four years will have been even stronger students in high school.

To read the article "College students take longer to graduate," by Cliff Peale in The Cincinnati Enquirer on May 3, 2010, which lists cohort graduation rates of Cincinnati-area colleges and universities, click this link:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100503/NEWS0102/5030326/College+students+take+longer+to+graduate