Research was conducted on the graduation rate and retention rate of the four-year colleges and universities in the state of Maryland. There were many various different statistics on each institution, and the variables of those percentages being different are colleges or universities promoting their institution and the fact that universities don’t consider students finishing their degree at another institution. Retention also has two different meanings depending on the person. Retention has two extremes: normal progression which occurs when a student enrolls each semester until graduation, studies full-time, and graduates in about four years; and then there is the dropout which is a student who enters college but leaves before graduating and never returns to that or any other school. The median would be the transfer and most college or universities automatically add any student who no longer attends their school into their retention rate or statistics. Graduation is the receiving or conferring of an academic degree or diploma from a college or university. The six-year graduation rate of the most recent cohort of new full-time students in Maryland reached an all-time high of 64.3 percent. These rates have increased steadily for the past nine cohorts, up from 55.4 percent in 1993. The six-year graduation rate for men remained at its all-time high of 60.8 percent. The rate for women increased just one-tenth of a percentage point to 67.1 percent. The six-year graduation rate for African-American men decreased for the third straight year to 36.2 percent while the rate for African-American women also dropped for three consecutive years to 47.1 percent. Women had a higher four-year graduation rate (55.5 percent) than men (50.7 percent).
Frostburg State University is very similar to the rest of the institutions in Maryland, but at the same time having some similar distinctions. It is one of the only schools in MD with a small to nonexistent gap as far as graduation rate between races. Towson, UMBC, and McDaniel (private school) are the others. These are some out of the few schools in the entire countries. With that being said Frostburg is not on Forbes list as one of the top 20 schools in Maryland. It has one of the lowest retention rates as far as schools in Maryland. While the second year retention rate for all first-time Frostburg students, including minorities, decreased slightly in each year up to 2009, the graduation rate increased slightly over the same time period.
Korawn, you need to tell us where these statistics came from, ideally with a link to the data, and also what year(s) they cover. If the statewide rates "have increased steadily for the past nine cohorts, up from 55.4 percent in 1993," then I'm assuming these are 2002 figures -- and out of date, if so -- but that's just a guess.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you don't give us any of the Frostburg numbers. You merely summarize them, forcing the reader to take your word for it.