Reacting to news that national college graduation rates have plunged below 42 percent, College officials expressed confidence that Dartmouth is isolated from the forces -- notably the lack of money and student motivation reported in a national study -- that appear to be causing the nationwide decline.
While he called the national statistic "frightening," Larry Litten, director of Dartmouth's Office of Institutional Research, said Dartmouth and similarly selective colleges are "holding strong" at 90-95 percent graduation rates after five years.
In fact, although he said that graduation statistics on the national scale are very important, Litten said that raising Dartmouth's graduation statistics further "would not [necessarily] be a good sign," since a proportion of students may in fact benefit from leaving the College to pursue other options.
The national survey, conducted by ACT (formerly the American College Testing Service), reported financial constraints as a key factor in leaving college before graduation. Dartmouth's and other Ivy League financial aid programs that pledge to meet students' financial needs help to ward off this factor, Litten said.
While graduation rates have fallen overall from 52.2 percent to 41.9 percent nationally between 1983 and 2000, total enrollment has risen, meaning that many of the students now dropping out of college may be part of a demographic not enrolled in earlier years.
"Access is part of the answer," Wes Habley, director of ACT's office of educational practices, told Grad GRAD Rates from page 1
Reuters. "There is a notion of entitlement for the U.S. population" that everyone should have access to a college education "and some lack the requisite skills to succeed."
Council for Aid to Education (CAE) researcher Richard Hersh agreed, saying, "We have increased access to college, but we haven't done very much about the quality." He advocated "chang[ing] the system such that we get people better prepared for college and do a better job once they get to college."
Private colleges and universities did somewhat better than the total average, but their graduation rates still fell from 59.5 percent to 55.1 percent between 1983 and 2000, according to the study.
"It's the lowest it's been and it's been going down by increments," Habley said of the graduation rate in the Reuters report. "That's somewhat staggering when you think about the amount of money invested in people who don't finish."
Associate Registrar Nancy Broadhead said national statistics often have little bearing on Dartmouth's situation.
"[Colleges and universities] that accept everyone who completes high school successfully ... probably have a lower graduation rate than another school that does effective pre-screening," she said.
However, some demographic groups at Dartmouth do not share equally in Dartmouth's high graduation rate, education department chair Andrew Garrod said.
Garrod noted that in his own study of Dartmouth students in 1996, the graduation rate for Native American students was about 75 percent. Still, considering national trends, Garrod described that rating as "extrordinarily good."
Many of these students come from under-resourced schools that "don't prepare them" fully for the rigors of Dartmouth, Garrod said, adding: "I've always believed that if you're bright enough to get in, you're bright enough to get out."
The national survey noted that many students left college for financial reasons. More than 70 percent of students attending four-year schools spend $8,000 or less a year on tuition and fees; only nine percent pay more than $20,000, according to College Board figures.
"Nationally, I think the federal government has to continue to do more," Litten said, adding that increased scholarships instead of loans would lessen the tax structure's bias towards the middle class.
Those interviewed by The Dartmouth yesterday could not say for certain whether Dartmouth conducts exit interviews with students who depart without graduating to determine why they leave.
