BP1 - The Lucky One-Third

When entering a classroom, you have the expectations of being successful and most are but less than one-third of that class will graduate within six years. That number is pretty small when it comes to a classroom of twelve students. You look around your class and think you might be one of them but what stops you from graduating within six years you ask? It could be a number of things, ranging from financial issues, the lack of transportation, or just the work ethic of the individual. The school gives you the opportunity to graduate within four years, if you play your cards right but sometimes life happens. Some students have a job, they need to go to school part time, or maybe they have only certain days available because of maternal reasons, so the option to essentially go at your own pace is very accessible. So why is it only one-third? Well the research collected was only of one group, first time full-time students.
The problem with this is that until recently the Department of Education has only been collecting data from these students and using this as their graduation rate.Yet a vast majority of students nationwide are transfer or part-time students; only 47% are full time freshman undergraduates. This leaves 53% of the graduating rate undocumented. Now that they have changed it to where they take all institutions success rate, regardless of students' status at school, the graduating rates are expected to be higher. Hopefully motivating more students into keeping up with their work and hopefully getting them to graduate sooner.
Knowing myself, seeing a number such as "1/3 this, 1/3 that", I would be discouraged because that's a small factor to beat, but many factors are taken into consideration when collecting data. You can ask why it took them so long to finish school and I'm sure most can give you multiple reasons as to why it deferred them for so long. Additional help is available for students, such as tutors, libraries, free internet access and flexible class schedules. The only valid reason is your reason, and I personally see college as a chance to expand your mind and find what your groove is. The matter of time it takes an individual student to graduate is their personal business.



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