The United States of America offers the finest some of the finest educational institutions in the world. People from other countries come to the US to be properly educated and trained from the prestigious colleges and universities in the country. What many do not know however is that despite the high quality of education and despite the high admission rate, the country faces serious problems when it comes to US college graduation rates. Here are three greatest concerns about US college graduation rates.
First, according to a report US college graduation rate entitled College Completion Must Be Our Priority, when it comes to national college graduation rates by college and universities, about half of the students who enter college fail to graduate. College graduation rate is therefore generally only about fifty percent in the majority of universities and colleges. This US college graduation rates are both applicable for students who entered college or university with the intention of finishing two or four year course. This is therefore quite alarming according to the chairman of the National Commission on Higher Education, E. Gordon Gee who stated that for many universities and colleges, the priority is the rate of admission. These educational institutions neglected the most important thing about going to college, which is graduating. The result therefore is the low US college graduation rates for colleges as well as universities. This also means that the same goes for college graduation rates by state.
Second, there is a great concern about US college graduation rates and college loans. The report entitled The American Dream 2.0 points to the serious problem students face when they took out student loan and then fail to earn their degree. For many of these students after leaving college without the right credential, they will face financial problem that may last for a lifetime. Instead of college being the way for them to get ahead in life, entering college has become a nightmare. And considering that the US college graduation rates is only fifty percent of admission rate, this is quite alarming. Almost fifty percent of the students will therefore have no credentials and the number of them who took out college loan will leave the college without credentials but with large amount of loan.
Third, when it comes to US college graduation rate in terms of socioeconomic status, the majority of the students who graduate from college are from high income families. According to the report by Forbes magazine, 79 percent of students who graduate with bachelors degree come from the top income quartile. What is alarming is that only 11 percent of students from bottom income quartile earn their bachelors degree. Economic discrimination is therefore one of the greatest problems facing US education system today. The problem is even worse in elite schools where higher percentage of graduates come from high income families and only very small percentage come from low income families.