Date posted: 11-17-04

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Graduation rates: NIU, other public universities see continued challenges

By Melissa Blake
DeKalb News Service

DeKalb -- Only 53 percent of students who enter NIU graduate within six years, university records show. But that's close enough to the state norms that administrators consider it more of a nagging challenge than an alarm.

In fact, since 1999 NIU'S graduation rate has improved from 49 percent to 53 percent, according to NIU's Office of Institutional Research.

Only one of the seven major public universities in Illinois has a graduation rate above 75 percent. Graduation rates at Illinois universities span some 40-percentage points with the highest being 81 percent (University of Illinois), and the lowest being 40 percent (Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville). NIU's rate ranks fourth, 9 percentage points from the top three.

Although NIU Provost Ivan Legg said NIU has a number of services to assist students, he is quick to admit the university can do better to improve its graduation rate, and can learn from its failures and successes.

"The challenge is pretty high for us," Legg said.

But NIU officials insist the school is rising to the challenge. The university is forming a task force across campus to look at rates ways to improve them, said Vice Provost Earl Seaver. The committee will develop an exit survey to interview students who leave and find out why they left.

But Seaver said NIU's graduation rate is not cause for alarm.

"What I'm most interested in is our graduation rates as compared to the predicted," he said.

A student body predicts the graduation rate, Seaver said, and research has shown that 20 to 25 percent of NIU students drop out after their freshman year.

"More and more schools are realizing they have to focus on that first-year experience," he said.

NIU's procedure for collecting graduation rates is specified by the National Center for Education Statistics. All universities and colleges follow a similar pattern, said Dan House, NIU'S director of institutional research. When a group of freshmen begin college in the fall, that group - called a cohort - is tracked each semester.

"By doing that, we can know what percentage of the initial cohort is still enrolled at any specific point in time," House said.

Tim Griffin, university ombudsman, said a variety of factors contribute to low graduation rates. These factors include uncertainties about academic and professional goals, poor academic performance, changes in life situations and the high cost of college.

The total cost of attending NIU has increased steadily over the last three decades. The Office of Institutional Research keeps records that date to 1975. In 1975, the total cost (including in-state tuition, mandatory fees and room and board) was $1,813.50. The figures for 2005 place the total cost at $11,557.24.

Legg said a trend of student isolation is another factor keeping students from finishing college. Some students feel uncomfortable when they start at NIU, so they don't do anything to reach out and get involved in student activities. College isn't just about going to class, he said. Studies show that when students are involved in school their grades are higher. This ultimately translates to increased graduation rates.

Legg worked in a kitchen during college, and he said the experience forced him out of his shell and required him to meet people.

NIU Vice President for Student Affairs Brian Hemphill said a student's first year can make or break his/her college career.

"If students don't feel connected or bonded, they won't stay," Hemphill said. "It will be easy for them to make that decision."

Retention has become a major focus for higher education across the country, he said, simply because it costs more to recruit students than to retain them.

"NIU does a good job of working with students to ensure success," Hemphill said. "Are there things we can improve? Sure."

However, Arthur Doederlein, director of undergraduate studies and associate professor for the department of communication, is concerned with students who transfer to NIU from community colleges. In the last 15 years, a disproportionate number of people who drop out are from community colleges, he said. Fifty-three percent of those who drop out are transfer students.

But Doederlein isn't "horribly concerned" about graduation rates.

"I don't see a lot of evidence [that] we're not providing good programs," he said.

As an adviser, Doederlein makes sure students are aware of what courses they will need to graduate. Students have been pleased with this, he said, because he's mapped out what they will take over the course of their college career.

While Doederlein said NIU has excellent professors and programs, he would also like to see these areas valued more than they are now - there's not much respect, he said. If teaching and advising counted more, NIU would see an increase in graduation rates.

"At NIU, teaching doesn't count for much in terms of getting paid or promoted," he said.

But despite this lack of recognition of good teaching, many professors take steps to ensure students receive a quality education. English professor Sean Shesgreen said both money problems and emotional problems contribute to low graduation rates. Shesgreen said he will do everything he can to help students who are genuinely struggling.

"Some years back, I had a student in my class who was in personal difficulty," Shesgreen said. "He had been in a previous class of mine, and I knew he was a good egg. But he'd just married because his wife was pregnant, and they were struggling with money and with marriage. I let him turn in a few things late and gave him some fatherly advice. He graduated."

There's a big difference between public and private schools, and this has to be taken into account when looking at rates, Shesgreen said.

"The big difference is between public and private schools," he added. "Northwestern has a graduation rate of 95 percent, as do all other elite schools. The problem is in large public schools. NIU does well because we have a pro-student attitude."

Shesgreen said schools should take their cues from private universities to increase graduation rates. Every time a student doesn't graduate, "we professors fail and our school fails in some way."

"We should mother and father our students better toward graduation," he said.

Christine Sorensen, dean of NIU'S College of Education, said the tracking system for collecting data on graduation rates is flawed. Because of this NIU has a problem getting a true picture of rates since the tracking system doesn't allow NIU to follow a student from one institution to another.

"I believe we are definitely seeing a different pattern of college attendance than in the past," she said. "It is no longer a given that students will enter an institution as a freshman, attend full time for four years and graduate."

The norm has changed, but ways of looking at whether students are meeting their educational goals hasn't, she said. The methods need to reflect the changing population and changing attendance patterns.

And Sue Doederlein, associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said low graduation rates have been a problem at NIU and elsewhere for decades. She also said there's a connection between a university's graduation rate and the quality of education.

"NIU should not have the 98 percent graduation rate of Harvard, but we certainly shouldn't be at the level of a coin toss, and that has to affect the quality of academic and intellectual life on campus," she said.

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