University Times

The Pittsburgh campus’s six-year graduation rate of 64.9 percent in 2003 ranks slightly below the median rate of similar institutions, according a new national database.

The Education Trust, a nonprofit organization that promotes academic achievement for students, kindergarten through college, established the Internet-accessed database consisting of six-year, five-year, and four-year graduation rates from 1,400 educational institutions. The database used statistics from the U.S. Department of Education’s Graduation Rate Survey.

The University’s six-year graduation rate for 2003 of 64.9 percent was a bit below the median rate of 70.5 percent for 28 similar institutions, determined by The Education Trust. (The provost’s office and Pitt’s Office of Institutional Research confirmed the 2003 graduation rate of 64.9 percent, while the database listed the rate at 64.7 percent.)

“We aren’t there yet, but we’re making good progress,” said Pitt Provost Jim Maher about the University’s recent graduation rates and its comparison to other institutions. “In terms of the very good universities we’re compared to, we’re already into the middle (of the list) and we’re preparing to go above the middle.”

Pitt improved its six-year graduation rate, from 61.2 percent in 1997 to 64.9 percent in 2003 to 67.4 percent in the spring of 2004 (the most recent statistic available, but not yet part of the Education Trust database), according to the provost’s office.

The Education Trust database also listed six-year graduation rates for three of Pitt’s four regional campuses: The Johnstown campus graduation rate of 60.1 percent placed it third in its grouping of 41 similar institutions; Bradford’s rate of 48.7 percent put it just a tad above the median rate of 48.6 percent in its category, and the Greensburg’s campus graduation rate of 46.6 percent was a bit below the 48.7 mean rate in its group.

A report from The Education Trust lamented the high numbers of students who don’t complete their bachelor degrees in four years or at all: Nationally, fewer than four in 10 students will complete their degrees in four years and not even six in 10 students will graduate in six years. “These numbers represent lost opportunity on a massive scale,” according to “One Step From the Finish Line: Higher College-Graduation Rates Are Within Our Reach.” The report added, “And the worst thing…is that it’s the same low-income and minority students who are finally able to enroll in college who are also the least likely to actually graduate.”

Pitt was classified as “doctoral/research extensive” in a group of 28 institutions that included the University of California at Los Angeles, Syracuse University and Rutgers. The Education Trust based institutional similarities on a number of factors including estimated median SAT scores, admissions selectivity, size and percentage of low-income students.

Among institutions similar to Pitt, UCLA topped the list with a graduation rate of 86.7 percent in 2003, while the University of Arizona, with a graduation rate of 54.7 percent, was last.

In the mid-1990s, the University initiated efforts to raise its academic standards for undergraduates. According to Maher, “We are seeing a steady improvement, but it takes a long time to show effects of things that were done in the mid-1990s.”

Current programs to help undergraduates stay in school include the Pitt Pathway, a four-step program to help undergraduates define their interests, beliefs and goals and to make the most of their college experience.

Maher sends a letter each year to the parents of Pitt undergraduate students encouraging them to work with their students on personal, academic and professional goals. “The problem is that all too many American students take more than four years to complete the supposedly four-year curriculum,” he stated in last year’s letter. Maher outlined some of the reasons for later-than-expected student graduations: more opportunities such as internships, multiple majors, working while attending college, and changing the course of study.

Graduation rates are affected by a host of factors including the academic preparation of students, availability of financial aid and student advising.

The Education Trust flagged the gap between minority students and white students, stating that at one in four American colleges, the black-white graduation differential is at least 20 percentage points.

As part of its efforts to increase overall graduation rates, Pitt has paid special attention to African-American students. And there’s been improvement: In 2002, African-American students at Pitt had a six-year graduation rate of 42.6 percent that increased to 59.8 percent for the class of 2004, according to Maher.

“The programs we initiated to bring up the graduation rates for African American students have been in place for about five years and we should be seeing more improvement in the future,” Maher said.

Many of the graduation rates of other area universities were listed in the database but not grouped with Pitt. They include: Penn State main campus, 82.5 percent; Carnegie Mellon, 81.4 percent; Duquesne University, 72.1 percent and Temple University, 53.6.

To access the database, go to www2.edtrust.org/edtrust/collegeresults/

-Mary Ann Thomas