Time is the Enemy: 2011 National Report

Description:

The longer college students stay in school, the less likely they are to earn a degree or certificate, a new report from Complete College America finds. The report, Time Is the Enemy: The Surprising Truth About Why Today’s College Students Aren’t Graduating...And What Needs to Change (248 pages, PDF), found that part-time students rarely graduate, even when they are given twice as long to complete a certificate or degree. Based on data on both full- and part-time students at public colleges and universities in thirty-three states, the study found that students who are poor, older, or of color fare even worse. While more of these students are enrolling in college today than ever before, few end up with a certificate or diploma. The report also found that 25 percent of students at public colleges attend full-time and live on campus, while 75 percent juggle jobs, school, and commuting to class.

To help more students graduate, the report recommends that states set state- and campus-level goals and uniformly measure progress and success; ensure that graduation, not just enrollment, is the goal and restructure programs to help part-time students - the new majority - balance jobs, families, and school; reduce the time it takes to get a degree or certificate; and transform remediation so students get into full-credit classes and on track toward completion. The report also provides state-by-state profiles of degrees and certificates awarded as well as graduation rates, disaggregated by race, age, income, average length of time to degree, transfer rates, and remedial education enrollment.