Careful John. It?s useful data to be sure but there?s a big elephant in the room with this data set: transfer students.
As the report?s notes point out:
Unfortunately, given the way IPEDS collects the completion data, students who transfer out of their starting institution are counted as not receiving a degree in six years even if they receive a degree from the second (or subsequent) institution in six years. The graduation rate reported here is therefore the ?institutional? graduation rate rather than the ?total? graduation rate. The 1996/2001 Beginning Postsecondary Student Study, conducted by the U.S. Education Department?s National Center for Education Statistics, shows that many students switch institutions and then graduate, often taking longer than the six year cutoff. This survey
suggests that the ?individual graduation rate? is about 8 percent higher than the average institutional graduation rate.
Oh, and of course, the transfer rate can vary by school.
