TN grad rate holds steady despite enrollment increase

In 2011, Tennessee ranked 31 out of 47 in states that reported data for graduation rates of full-time students in four-year institutions.

According to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, public college enrollment in Tennessee totaled nearly 220,000 students in 2010. The State's average graduation rate is 56.9 percent among full-time graduates with a four-year degree.  

The Beginning Postsecondary Survey showed the graduation rate in 1996 was 62.7 percent and only rose to 63.2 percent in 2009.

Washington Monthly magazine ranked The University of Memphis as the 100th University in the nation in 2010.  The University's ability to help students move up in economic status, foster scientific and humanistic research, and how well The University promotes service to the country were taken into consideration to devise the No. 100 ranking.

The college's actual graduation rate compared to the predicted rate based on its students' socioeconomic backgrounds also played a vital role in the acclamation.

"Where the Washington Monthly rankings value educating students from working- and middle-class backgrounds, other college ranking systems punish universities like ours whose students take longer to graduate because they must juggle classes and jobs," said Andrew Meyers, U of M vice provost for research.

The University of Tennessee Knoxville has the highest graduation rates in the state at 61 percent, while The University of Memphis sees 37 percent of its students graduate within six years.

"Usually we report the six-year graduation rates because there has been national recognition that students just don't graduate in four years anymore. They now take longer to graduate," said Cynthia Martin, research analyst for Institutional Research at The U of M.

Eleven percent of students are able to graduate from The U of M with a bachelor's degree in four years.

The University has implemented three initiatives to improve its rates, said Tom Nenon, vice provost of assessment, institutional research and reporting.

"There are several things we have done that have been successful over the past three years," Nenon said.

Identifying students who may be getting into academic troubles earlier are among The University's strategies for improvement. This, along with revised policies on academic retention have "prescribed success and support the students," Nenon said.

 "We've seen decreased (academic) suspensions by well over 50 percent, and we've made successes over the last five years," Nenon said. "We're going to get to 80 percent retention within the next year or two, and our graduation rate will see substantial increases in rates over the next few years."

The faculty has also worked to redesign key courses, he said.

"We've worked to repair the pedagogy in lower division math courses — we've seen over a 20 percent increased success rate."

Graduation and retention rates are up about three percent among U of M students who receive the Tennessee HOPE Lottery Scholarship. Of this year's 2,400-plus freshman class, over 70 percent received the scholarship.

With a new policy that allows students to use HOPE money during summer terms, officials hope to increase the graduate rate, not just within the national six-year window, but also within the original four years, said David Wright, chief policy officer at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

"I think the HOPE scholarship is a motivating factor to inspire students to do better," Wright said. "It's a $4,000 hit if they lose it, so I think that motivates them to do better."

Wright also said the fear of losing their scholarship may be why students prefer to take 12 hours as opposed to the 15 hours necessary to graduate in four years.

"They use it as a cushion to preserve their GPA for the scholarship," he said. "And that's completely fine since we fund their education up to 120 hours."

Tennessee expects 56 percent of its workforce to require a career certificate or college degree by 2020, based on a study by the National Center for Education Statistics. About 31 percent of Tennessee adults have an associate degree or higher, leaving a 25 percent skills gap, according to Complete College America.

"There are things we need to continue to do, and any feedback from faculty and students can help with getting better." Nenon said. "With students and faculty, we can continue working to do better with this."