Persistence Matters — And So Does the Way Policymakers Measure It

How we measure college completion rates can have a dramatic effect on our perceptions of an institution’s quality. Schools that serve large numbers of nontraditional students — older students, students who work full-time, students with children – are particularly challenged by some data analyses that do not track part-time students or those who attend multiple schools before receiving a degree. 

Focusing too heavily on analyses that don’t fully account for the scope of student experiences comes at a significant cost for social mobility: By emphasizing a one-size-fits-all metric on graduation rates, and tying this to institutional funding support or eligibility for federal financial aid dollars, we risk rewarding institutions that take few risks on students (such as prioritizing enrollment of students who are likely to graduate within six years) and punishing those that admit students who face more economic, social or family challenges for success. 

We must pay more attention to the nuances of our students, especially in a higher education landscape in which a significant share of students is nontraditional. America’s higher education landscape is strengthened by its diversity of institutions and the students they serve; the metrics by which we judge the success of those institutions must reflect that diversity as well. How can we get closer to this ideal? 

We should pay greater attention to completion rates that include nontraditional students.

As I discussed in my previous post, some sources, such as the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), report data that follow cohorts of students through institutions. Others, such as the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (NSCRC), report data tracing particular students over time. Each of these methods has limitations. For example, nontraditional students are more likely to attend college part-time and to attend more than one institution before receiving a degree; the NCES either ignores these students or considers them lost at the institutional level, and as a result NCES reports lower graduation rates at institutions that serve larger numbers of nontraditional students. 

Enter a new, third data resource: the Student Achievement Measure (SAM). SAM tracks student movement between institutions and reports institutional data in terms of students who receive a degree from the original enrolled institution and students who eventually receive a degree from any institution. SAM also includes more information about part-time students, who may be left out of the NCES numbers; thus, SAM presents a more complete picture of student experience (and student success) at these institutions. (For those interested in learning more about the nuances of college graduation rates, I recommend Tiffany Beth Mfume’s book “The College Completion Glass — Half Full or Half Empty?”)

We should examine 6-year enrollment rates in addition to 6-year completion rates.

College completion rates can serve as an important signal of an institution’s ability to support its students, as well as a student’s potential return on their investment. But often lost in those calculations are students who are actively working toward a degree, but might need more time to finish their program due to a variety of life circumstances — even if they finish their program at a different institution than where they initially enrolled.

For example, Georgia State University has received a great deal of national attention for increasing graduation rates in the past decade, rising from 32% in 2003 to 54% in 2017. Georgia State has a diverse population that includes many non-traditional students. Looking at the SAM data, its track record is even more impressive: While 55% of the first-time full-time cohort entering Georgia State in fall 2013 graduated from Georgia State within six years, another 13% had transferred and graduated from another institution. In other words, the overall degree attainment of students who entered Georgia State in 2013 was 68%. And, according to SAM, 13% of the 2013 cohort from Georgia State remained enrolled six years later, either at Georgia State or another institution.

Given that many nontraditional students are working full-time and must either attend college part-time, or skip a term or two on the way to their degree, it is not surprising that some of these students take longer; what is impressive is that their experience at Georgia State is getting them to persist toward a degree, even at part-time status.

Policymakers should recognize — especially when considering measures of completion — that not all paths to and through college are the same. 

As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, a common image of a student in America today is that of an 18- to 22-year-old leaving their residence hall to traverse a well-landscaped quadrangle on their way to class. Yet the reality is that most students are older, live off campus, have a job (or two, or three), are enrolled in online programs, and/or balance class with child care. Not everyone will graduate in four years, or even six, and understandably so; we need data analyses that better reflect these experiences so that schools can better support these students. If we don’t, then schools will remain incentivized to invest in students who are likelier to graduate within six years — students without the same economic and familial challenges faced by many nontraditional students — at a time when schools should be working to expand access to lower-income students.

As we consider the diversity of higher education institutions, and the diversity of students enrolled in college, we must broaden our measures of what constitutes student success. The ultimate goal may be a college degree, but the path taken to get there may vary depending on the student needs. Yes, students should be well-supported by their institutions and government policies so that they can successfully earn their degree within a timeframe that does not exacerbate their debt load. But policies, and the metrics that inform them, should reflect a diverse range of college experiences — not just the ones seen in movies. 

Earlier in this series: What College Completion Rates Signal about Higher Education

Sean Decatur is the 19th president of Kenyon College. Follow his writing here and on Kenyon's website.