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Higher education is under a lot of pressure these days: political scrutiny, public doubt, rising costs, and growing discontent across campuses. For many of us who believe in the transformative power of a four-year degree, it’s a heartbreaking moment.
Nonetheless, some of these criticisms deserve consideration. Students face rising costs and debt, yet some still never make it to graduation. For a college education to truly be “worth it,” institutions must do more to retain students and ensure they earn their bachelor’s degree. So, how exactly do colleges do this?
Thanks to a Lumina Foundation grant, a team of our faculty, administrators, and students at Vassar College engaged in a research study of five colleges that had above-average graduation rates to understand what works in college completion. There is a fair amount of research done on factors that increase college completion rates. However, much of the prior research focuses on individual student factors. We wanted to focus on institutional factors that positively impact retention and completion. The Vassar team studied institutions that were successful in achieving above-average graduation rates despite not having high economic resources.
While there is research on institutional factors, those factors are typically limited to financial resources. For instance, some studies show that colleges with larger endowments and bigger instructional expenditures and more full-time faculty had higher graduation rates. Even though the national average completion rate is low at 51%, there are colleges that are defying these statistics, and we wanted to learn from them and to explore “what works” when it comes to increasing four-year college graduation rates.
In November 2023 through February 2024, our team of researchers traveled to five institutions across the nation. The five institutions identified were the result of a previous quantitative study looking at data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). We selected colleges and universities that were diverse in ownership type, size, and geographic location. We interviewed three public universities and colleges, one private non-profit university, and one private for-profit university. The locations ranged from the West Coast, Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast and ranged from campuses of 1,600 to 8,000 students. At each institution, we conducted one-on-one and focus group interviews with campus presidents, faculty, administrators/staff, and students. After a day of interviews with about 21-48 individuals per site, we were left intrigued by the uniqueness of each campus and inspired by the work they were doing. The five main themes we identified that contributed to above-average graduation rates were:
1. Organizational Histories
The story of each institution we visited laid the foundation of a strong campus culture rooted in its unique history and set of ideals. Additionally, they had a clear audience for their approach. For example, one university was founded in a large agricultural region of the state that did not previously have a large research university. This institution was formed with the express purpose of offering higher education for low-income students, first-generation students, and often children of immigrants from the region. This intentional mission attracted faculty and administrators who were passionate about building a new university and teaching underrepresented students, as well as the students for whom they were designed.
2. Goal Alignment
Student retention and completion was a clear goal present at all five institutions. This goal was apparent all across the institutions, and was understood and embraced at every level — from the university presidents, deans, and administrators to faculty and support staff. Often retention is thought of as the responsibility of administrators in student success or student-facing staff who advise students. However, at each college and university we visited, it was clear that retention was everyone’s responsibility. Professors spoke passionately about re-examining and restructuring courses, administrators in the office of institutional research disaggregated data to identify specific demographics of students who were in need of support, and even one university’s check-in security guard (beloved by students) contributed to a culture of care and individualized attention was a key component of making them feel welcomed and that they belonged. This shared goal of student completion fostered collaboration across multiple departments and offices at each campus.
3. Voice
At each of the campuses we visited, it was clear that administrators, faculty, staff, and students felt heard. There were various ways for all members of the college campus to voice their opinions and influence change. For instance, when one college disaggregated its graduation data, staff identified that underrepresented minorities and low-income and first-generation students were not graduating at rates comparable to their peers. A retention committee of administrators was formed and a focus group of underrepresented minorities, low-income students, and first-generation students was formed to understand their experiences, thoughts, and needs and to brainstorm ideas for increasing completion rates.
4. Managing Setbacks
Like any college, the institutions we interviewed all experienced setbacks and weren’t always meeting their graduation rate goals. However, all the campuses we studied gathered data to assess the situation accurately, convened people from different departments and viewpoints, formed task forces, and sought external help, when possible, to address the issues and implement changes designed to support the unifying goal of persistence and retention to completion. When one large research university noticed that students in specific biology classes were consistently struggling to pass the course, a team of professors secured funding to design a research project to test whether switching from a large lecture hall-based classroom to a flipped classroom model would improve student grades.
5. Organizational Ambidexterity(“Both/and” Phenomenon or Balancing Polarities)
Another common thread among the five institutions we interviewed is that they all balanced polarities. For instance, each campus would use both qualitative and quantitative data to inform new strategies to increase completion rates, fostered a work environment that allowed for individual and collective work, and faculty and staff navigated the fine balance of doing everything within their power to support students while also maintaining high expectations and holding students accountable.
Takeaway
Prospective students and their families still aspire to be admitted to prestigious institutions. However, there should be pressure on all colleges to promote their graduation rate as much as they market their acceptance rate, how many majors they offer, and what campus life opportunities they have available. Students and families should consider a university’s graduation rate as part of the decision-making process when applying to college. The five characteristics we identified at each of the institutions we interviewed are not expensive or overly resource-intensive qualities. Rather, they require an overall cultural structuring to prioritize a focus on college completion. What we saw at each of the campuses was an all-hands-on-deck approach to student persistence and retention — to prioritize completion to graduation. It’s never too late to be intentional at your institution about how you will commit to students’ success — completion to graduation. In fact, it might begin with you, your office, and your team. What will be your next step?
