College graduation rates often misrepresented | College Connection

“What is your four-year graduation rate?”

This may be one of the most important questions that college-bound students and their parents can ask when considering a potential college. An article in Money stated, “the failure to graduate students in four years has become so commonplace that schools are now showing you their six-year graduation rate.” Unfortunately, that fact often is not very evident.

The “Best Colleges” Guide by U.S. News & World Report, considered a top resource of college information, lists the graduation rate as one of its key criteria in ranking hundreds of colleges and universities. Readers may assume it indicates a four-year graduation rate, but it’s actually a six-year graduation rate.

A government website that provides a gamut of extremely helpful information to college-bound students and their parents is collegescorecard.ed.gov. One key category, addressing the graduation rate at U.S. colleges and universities, states, “The graduation rate for degree granting schools is the proportion of entering students that graduated at this school within 8 years of entry…” Students and parents who are budgeting for a college diploma need to know, in advance, whether to multiply the annual cost of attendance (including tuition, fees, room, board, and books) by four or six or even eight!

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Of course, there are some universities that boast impressive four-year graduation rates of 90% or higher for their undergraduate student body, including University of Notre Dame, Washington and Lee University, University of Virginia, Georgetown University, Duke University, Babson College, Swarthmore College, and Tufts University.

According to U.S. News & World Report, other than Princeton University, which has a four-year graduation rate of 88%, the only New Jersey colleges or universities with four-year graduation rates at or above 60% are The College of New Jersey (75%), Rutgers University-New Brunswick (70%), Seton Hall University (66%), Drew University (64%), Stockton University (62%), Rider University and Caldwell University (61%), and Ramapo College of New Jersey and Monmouth University (60%).

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Another enlightening question that students and parents should ask of college administrators is, “How many of your graduates are either employed or enrolled in graduate school within six months of graduation and/or within a year?” Every college and university is required by law to keep these statistics and make them available.

Asking the right questions can be crucial to making an educated decision on the next step of one’s academic and career life.

Susan Alaimo is the founder & director of Collegebound Review, offering PSAT/SAT® preparation & private college advising by Ivy League educated instructors. Visit CollegeboundReview.com or call 908-369-5362.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: College graduation rates often misrepresented