Despite some students’ indecisions, schedule conflicts and economic trends, graduation rates are rising.
Based on data compiled by the Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange Web site, which tracks retention and graduation rates for the CSUs, the four-, five- and six-year graduation rates have made steady gains.
Nearly half of the students who enrolled as freshmen in fall 2000 graduated in 2006. The six-year graduation rate for the class of 2001 was 33.3 percent. Cal State Long Beach President F. King Alexander said that improvement in graduation rates is due to increased efforts by the university.
“Today it’s never been more important to a student that they graduate,” Alexander said. “It’s never been more important than today throughout the history of higher education. They have to graduate today.”
Ronald Treminio, a biology major, has attended college since 1998 and CSULB since 2003.
“Honestly, people don’t know what they want and you take classes because you know that you should take classes,” Treminio said.
Alexander said that since the Learning Assistance Center was moved last year to the Horn Center, the number of students using its services has doubled. There is more monitoring of students’ successes and failures in order to make sure that graduation is attained.
“It’s a little bit weird that everyone’s striving for five, six years,” said Virginia Ying, a freshman fashion merchandising and textiles and clothing major.
Alexander said that a new set of general education requirements that may take effect next year would make it easier for students. The change would lower the number of general education units from 51 to 48, and would allow for the sharing of six units among the B, C and D general education categories. He said he is confident that students will choose their general education courses wisely.
“Students are savvy about the courses they take,” he said. “As this world globalizes in so many ways, the more our students understand the world in which they live in, not just the country in which they live in … the better prepared they are to excel and succeed in society,” Alexander said.
In 2004, Princeton University limited its number of “A” grades to 35 percent of all grades. This was done because of the belief that grade inflation was present. Alexander said he sees no evidence to show that grade inflation is happening at CSULB.
He said because the university received more than 63,000 applications for the 2007-2008 school year, the entering students’ performance levels would be higher due to increase competition.
“Today it’s harder to get into our university than it has ever been,” Alexander said.
