Drop in undergraduates earning B.A.'s in four years

Academe, Jul/Aug 2003

The proportion of college students who earn bachelor's degrees within four years of entering college continues to decline, according to a survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. Degree Attainment Rates at American Colleges and Universities describes the results of the survey, which was based on 56,818 students who entered 262 four-year colleges and universities in fall 1994 and whose degree attainment and enrollment status were determined in fall 2000.

Thirty-six percent of the students completed bachelor's degrees within four years, compared with 40 percent a decade earlier and 47 percent in the late 1960s. Degree completion rates varied by type of institution and according to students' race and sex. Completion rates were higher at private institutions of all types. At private universities, 69 percent of students finished their degrees in four years, while only 28 percent of those attending public universities did so.

Asian and white students were the most likely to complete a degree in four years (39 percent and 38 percent, respectively), while Mexican Americans and American Indians were the least likely to do so (21 percent and 22 percent). Four-year completion rates were higher for women (40 percent) than for men (33 percent).