Graduation rates are one more indicator that can inform college selection. As we are in the middle of the college selection and application season a post about graduation rates seems appropriate.

Let me start by saying that graduation rates are a complex and imperfect measure. Since their inception, everyone had a bone to pick with graduation rates and what they have been measuring. And the debate is far from over, even today. On the other hand, this imperfect and complex measure may become increasingly important when a college has a 6-year graduation rates in the low teens.

That being said, if you are building your list of schools to apply to, take a quick look at graduation rates to inform your selections. This post discusses how graduation rates are measured and where to go to find the graduation rates for different colleges and universities.

1. High School Graduates Starting in Fall as Full-Time Freshman. Throughout my career, I had to explain graduation rates to college trustees. The best way to do it was by using high school students.
   The graduation rates track what happens to high school students after they graduated high school and enrolled full-time the following fall at a particular college. The graduation rates look at these students and determine how many of them graduated from the same college 4-, 6-, and 8-years later. Yes, some students get excluded from these calculations for various reasons.

1. The 4-year, 6-year, and 8–year graduation rates. The federal government measures graduation rates at three points in time: the 100% of the time required to complete a 4-year undergraduate degree, at 150% of the time – the 6-year graduation rate, and at 200% of the time – the 8–year graduation rate. The 4-year ones are likely to be the lowest rates, the 6-year tend to be way better, and then the 8-year ones are the best. The latest graduation rates values that you will find are based on the students that graduated high school in 2013 and enrolled in college that fall. And this leads me to the next point:

1. The 6-year graduation rate is the standard. The vast majority of graduation rates that you find through different websites or books tend to be the 6-year ones. If you see a graduation rate and no specification about it, you can be almost certain that it refers to the 6-year rate. The College Scorecard provides the 6-year graduation rates also.

1. So how much time do students actually need to complete a college degree? While we talk about college as a four-year experience (one of the greatest myths – more in a different post), most students complete at the 4.5 – 5-year mark, as in not quite in 4 years, but less than 6 years. Obviously, there are students that complete in less than 4 years, just as there are students that complete in more than 6 years.

1. Where to look for graduation rates: College Scorecard, College Navigator, and the colleges’ websites. Always keep in mind the 6-year standard for graduation rates and that many students get excluded from these calculations.

The College Scorecard includes the 6-year graduation rates.

The College Navigator also includes the 4-, 6-, and 8-year graduation rates by gender and race/ethnicity.

Yes, college graduation rates are not a perfect measure. That being said,  as you are building your college list, you may want to be mindful of this measure.