Spring Break
SJSU graduation rate trails similar schools
Ashley Johnson
Daily Staff Writer
- Page 1 of 1
Yet, with a rate of 39.4 percent, SJSU ranks slightly higher than Cal State Sacramento and San Francisco State University.
Using an interactive tool on The Education Trust's Web site, students can compare SJSU graduation rates to those of 1,400 other universities.
However, one thing the Web tool does not take into account is transfer students.
The study only includes first-time, full-time and degree-seeking freshmen who received a bachelor's degree from the institution they were originally enrolled at, according to the Web site.
"Most of our students at San Jose State University enter as transfer students and they have a much higher graduation rate than first-year freshmen," said Robert Cooper, associate vice president of undergraduate studies.
The CSU system is set up so students can easily transfer from one institution to another, Cooper said.
Therefore, students transferring between universities are seen in The Education Trust data as not graduating, he said.
However, some people feel the rate is not low at all.
"I don't think they're low for an institution of this kind," said Lee Dorosz, former biology professor and associated vice president of undergraduate affairs. "When we put CSU in the context of other comparable CSU campuses - we're right there with them."
Nevertheless, because SJSU is an access institution, there is a higher risk of students dropping out than Stanford University, UC Berkeley or UCLA, Cooper said.
The idea of access institutions is to train students who are less prepared, to get them a bachelor's degree and to give them a chance to succeed, Cooper said.
Additionally, the goal of access institutions is to accept students who have the promise of being able to succeed even if they didn't do well in high school, he said.
Another possible factor in low graduation rates is money, said Annette Nellen, chair of the academic senate.
"With the cost of living, some students might just be unable to finish," Nellen said. "I think over half our students work."
Although graduation rates are comparatively low, there are ways to improve them.
"There is data going back decades that show the first six weeks of a college student's time on campus are absolutely critical," Dorosz said.
Students tend to lose interest in college during that time and a lot of them disappear he said.
"If we are not putting enough emphasis on that first semester, that could be where we're losing a few," Nellen said.
The first thing to be done in improving graduation rates is to improve retention Cooper said.
Programs such as the Metropolitan University Scholar's Experience have been shown to increase retention rates, he said.
Although the program hasn't been in place long enough to see whether it increases graduation rates, data from other universities with similar programs show an increase, Cooper said.
The university has shown interest in starting a similar program for transfer students since they comprise such a large portion of the student body.
Muse is a seminar for entering freshmen, Cooper said.
The core of the idea came from former Provost Marshall Goodman and Annette Nellen, Cooper said.
The seminars are designed to give students an understanding of how the university works and what its expectations, as well as provide academic content, Cooper said.
Advising can also aid students in graduating sooner, Cooper said.
Regular advising is important, so if students have difficulty, they know the full range of options to recover, he said.
Developing relationships with other students going through the same degree program serves as a social support system, Cooper said.
Despite these programs, there are other reasons students graduate later than sooner.
"So many students have to work to support themselves," Nellen said.
Taking a semester off because they are out of funds is another reason for delay, Cooper said.
Other students have to work while going to school and can't take as many units.
"If you look at schools either where the students come from wealthy families or they have full-time financial aid packages, you find many more students graduating in four years," Cooper said.
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