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The "payoff" of persistence, as the student completes the required courses, meets the degree requirements for the chosen academic program, and prepares to move to the post-college phase of life.
Private colleges and universities are not only affordable for students from a wide variety of backgrounds, but also help students succeed and achieve their educational goals. While enrolling 21 percent of all students, independent colleges and universities award one-third of all degrees: 29 percent of undergraduate degrees, 43 percent of graduate degrees, and 60 percent of first professional degrees in fields such as law, medicine, engineering and business.
There are two measures of success associated with graduating students that are often looked at by institutions and policymakers. First, “time-to-degree” looks only at bachelor’s degree recipients and how long it took them to earn their degrees. At private colleges and universities, 79 percent of graduates have a four-year time-to-degree; at state four-year institutions, only 49 percent of graduates finish in four years (click here).
“Time-to-degree” differs from “completion rates,” which can be defined in two ways: a student rate and an institutional rate. The student completion rate is the percentage of students beginning at an institution who are successful in their attempt to earn a bachelor’s degree at any four-year institution in a given amount of time (typically between four and six years). The institutional completion rate is the percentage of students who are successful in their attempt to earn a bachelor’s degree at the same four- year institution at which they first attended (i.e., the student did not transfer to another institution). Regardless of which definition is used, independent colleges and universities successfully graduate students at higher rates than state four-year institutions (click here),
Critics attribute higher completion rates at private colleges and universities to the selection of students who are unlikely to have any obstacles to pursuing their degrees. This claim is wrong. When comparing students with similar characteristics (family income, race/ethnicity, or academic preparation), students at private colleges and universities are more likely to receive their bachelor’s degrees in four years than are their counterparts at state institutions. (click here for a detailed comparison of completion rates)
Success in completing their bachelor’s degrees on time and entering the workforce also helps graduates of private colleges and universities reduce the effective price of their degree, compared to students at state institutions who take longer to graduate. In fact, the average price of private college for students who complete their degrees in four years and then begin to earn a salary is less than the price of a state institution for students who take five years or more to complete their degrees (click here for a case example).
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