Report: Utah has highest 6-year graduation rate
A national report released last Wednesday ranked Utah as the state with the highest number of college students enrolled at the six year mark in the nation, and USU is no exception.
It took an average of 5.39 years for a USU student to graduate in 2012 rather than the standard four years.
“If a student hasn’t graduated within six years into their schools, they are most likely not going to graduate,” said Michael Torrens, director for the USU Office of Analysis, Assessment and Accreditation.
Torrens said a higher graduation rate for USU is fairly typical when factoring in students who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and serve one-and-a-half and two-year missions.
“The main reason for graduation retention in Utah in general is because of the missionary phenomenon,” said John Mortensen, assistant vice president for Enrollment, Service and Retention.
Mortensen said USU takes several measures to promote graduation retention such as offering classes to help plan for a career, offering career counseling sessions, using the Student Orientation, Advising and Registration program and by encouraging students to participate in campus activities.
“A big part of retention is students feeling a social connection with the university,” Mortensen said. “Students who get involved with something are much more likely to graduate.”
Mortensen said people at USU planning for religious or military service are encouraged to notify the university so it can keep track of transcripts and put a hold on any scholarships an individual may have. If not, students may lose out on unused scholarship money.
The state is helping to push students toward graduation through its 15 to Finish campaign, which encourages students to take on a full course load to help them graduate in four years.
Students at USU face challenges with completing their degrees in the expected four years without religious or military service. Kurt Kowal began his freshman year in 2010 and is hoping to graduate by 2016.
Kowal is not currently enrolled in any classes but is planning to study social work. He changed his major seven times while taking six credits per semester. The 25-year-old said he did not attend SOAR, and miscommunications while setting up appointments with advisers confused him.
“If there were more advisers, that’d be great. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to do,” Kowal said. “I didn’t want to overload myself, but I should have been taking 12 credits per semester. I just took a lot more fun classes than I should have. Zumba is the best, and I will be taking that one again.”
Now that he has taken some time away from school, Kowal said he misses homework and realizes that from this point forward, he will be enrolled in 20 credit semesters to graduate.
“I miss school and I want to grow up,” he said. “The next two years will be the most efficient, but they’re gonna suck.”
Kowal said he plans to graduate and eventually complete a doctorate degree.
“It’s always nice to take a break, but you can’t let the break go too long,” Kowal said. ” Growing up, my teachers said I wouldn’t be worth anything, so I’m going to get my doctorate’s degree and then go to their face and tell them they have to refer to me as ‘doctor.'”
– mdmaners@hotmail.com
Twitter: @miss_maddiesue
– morgan.pratt.robinson@gmail.com
Twitter: @MorganPRobinson