Snow College is First In Graduation Rates

Snow College is first in graduation rates among its comparable colleges in the nation. Not exactly a new revelation, of course. It has been long understood that our excellent faculty and staff help Snow College students succeed. But what is impressive is how much more successful Snow College is over its peers nationwide. Snow College’s four-year graduation rate is 58% compared to its next closest peer, Centralia College (Washington State), with a graduation rate of 36%. The average rate among all its peers is 23.75%. Snow College’s rate is two and a half times higher than average and 22 points above the next closest. Seriously—wow!

The gap is larger for the two-year graduation rate where Snow College students succeed at a rate of 39%, which is more than three times the average rate among all its peers. The average is 12.25%.

Two-year associate and community colleges, as a general rule, have a lower graduation rate than universities. There are many reasons for this including two obvious ones. First, Two-year colleges admit students for vocational programs who have no interest in working toward graduation. These students are looking for a job and want to acquire the skills necessary to get into the workplace as quickly as possible. Secondly, students who are not admitted to a university, because they didn’t apply on time or are not yet academically qualified, go to two-years colleges. Snow College has no admission requirements. We take all comers, regardless of how well prepared they are—and then our faculty and staff lead them to success at exceptional rates. Having said all this—most students who attend Snow College are very prepared for college study. They have many choices in universities to attend. But they choose Snow College for various reasons, including the quality education and opportunities they find here.

Why do I point out the fact that two-year colleges have a lower graduation rate than universities? Is it to explain why our graduation rate is lower than most universities in Utah? Well, not exactly. It is to set up the next set of data and further drive home my point of how successful Snow College is in leading students to graduation.

Drum roll please . . .

Snow College is not only the leader in graduation rates among its two-year peers—it is the leader among all regional universities in Utah. Snow College’s graduation rate is four points higher than Southern Utah University, six points higher than Weber State University, 15 points higher than Dixie State College, and 26 points higher than Utah Valley University. Only the research universities in Utah have a higher rate than Snow College. University of Utah and Utah State University’s rates are only nine points higher than Snow College’s rate.

But before I finish, I need to add one additional point of comparision with the universities. It is within the mission of Snow College to help students working toward a bachelor’s degree to transfer to a four-year school. Universities do not generally have transfer within their mission. Students who want a bachelor’s degree either go directly to a university, which offers the degree, or to a two-year college with the intention of transferring to a university after their time at the college. Many students come to Snow College having earned a semester or more of college credit while in high school. They have a great experience at Snow College and then after a year are prepared to transfer to a university. These students don’t graduate from the College. But they are successes. If we add the graduation rate and the transfer rate prior to graduation Snow College’s completion rate is 78.6%. And then if I add the vocational students, who come only for a certificate or a few classes, well more than 80% of all students who come to Snow College complete their academic goals.

Snow College is the most successful institution in Utah, and nationally among its peers, in leading students to graduation.

Of course, graduation rate is only one measure of success. There are many others, and I will address them all in future posts.

(The source for this post is 2010 data from the IPEDS Data Center and the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.)