The American College Testing Program released a report this week indicating that degree completion and first-year retention rates in four-year colleges nationwide have fallen. But University administrators said the University's rates are so high that they do not compare them to national figures.
According to the report, only 51.6 percent of students entering four-year institutions in the fall of 1993 received their degree within five years. This was a half-percentage point decrease from the previous year's entering class, following a steady three-year decline.
Colleges' freshman-to-sophomore retention rate, however, increased from 73.6 to 74.1 percent for 1998's incoming freshmen, following an increasing national trend.
The University's rates in both areas are significantly higher. Of the students who entered the University in the fall of 1994, 90.3 percent graduated within five years. Ninety-six and a half percent of the fall 1998 first-years returned for their second year.
The Office of Institutional Assessment and Studies does not compare its rates in these areas to national statistics, said George Stovall, Director of Institutional Studies.
Rather, the University compares its performance to its peers in the Association of American Universities.
The AAU consists of 59 American and two Canadian universities, including the University of California-Berkeley, Harvard, McGill and Yale.
"Among public schools in the AAU we have the highest graduation rate in the country," Stovall said.
Compared to private institutions, Virginia's retention rate is average, he said.
The ACT report ascribes the increasing retention trend to schools' more-valiant efforts to maintain students' interest in college life.
The report also suggests that the downward graduation trend might be attributed to students' increasing efforts spent outside school.
When students take on extracurricular activities, the amount of time they devote to schoolwork decreases. It then takes longer for students to complete their degrees, the report says.
William W. Harmon, vice president for student affairs, said he attributes the University's increasing graduation rate to students' educational philosophies.
"It's a reflection on the quality of the students we admit to the institution," Harmon said.
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