Despite criticism of the survey by local college officials, don't brush aside the findings, one of its authors says.

Author Andrew Kelly said the study, "Diplomas and Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (And Which Don't)," by the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, isn't a perfect study but illustrates key issues the U.S. higher education system faces.

"It may be imperfect, but it's the best that we have," Kelly said.

The institute studied almost 1,400 institutions throughout the U.S. to see how many first-time freshmen actually graduated within six years from the institutions where they began their higher education. Many of the institutions rated below 50 percent.

David Longanecker, president of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, said the study is valid and should be used to generate discussion - particularly in light of President Barack Obama's challenge to the nation's higher education institutions to churn out more graduates.

Low graduation rates are a barrier to America's international competitiveness, the president said in his first address to Congress, and his bold promise that America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020 has spurred discussions on how to turn the numbers - quickly.

Longanecker said the study highlighted the fact that the goal is not just getting students to start college careers, but getting them to finish, too.

"The real critical issue for this country isn't how many participate in higher education; it's how many don't graduate," he said.

Kelly said one of the strongest points of the study is that it shows the large inconsistencies in graduation rates throughout the U.S. among similar institutions, which is a good thing for parents and students to consider when selecting a college.

"We believe this data should be at the fingertips of people making these decisions," he said. "Not that graduation rates should be the biggest factor, but it's something people should think about: What is the probability that I will get a degree in six years?"

Longanecker said it's clear the U.S. is far behind developing countries for producing graduates, "but it's not as bad as the statistics look" in the new report.

U.S. Department of Education information was used to rate the institutions. The results of the study identified the top and bottom graduation rates among institutions that have similar levels of admissions selectivity, so a school like Harvard wasn't compared to a smaller, non-competitive college.

Longanecker cautioned that anyone reading the report should remember that only full-time freshmen were counted, which leaves many schools that cater to non-traditional students or students who come to their institution with college credit already with potentially skewed figures.

Another point to remember is that the study does not track transfer students. Only students who started and graduated at one institution counted toward the rate. Kelly acknowledged that it's unfortunate the study couldn't include all students.

"That's a serious flaw of the data, and it's hard to tell exactly how they would redo it," he said.

For example, Black Hills State University student Annie Woodle of Rapid City was not counted in the study. She started in 2001 at a junior college in California, took a year off to have a baby, and then transferred to Black Hills State. She earned a degree in mass communications this semester.

"I'm happy that I finally finished and got my degree, and I'm proud of it," she said. " … I kind of took the long way around."

But even she recognized that there are many students who don't have her happy ending.

"When I started my first semester, by the end, there were so many people missing," she said.

Schools report

One thing the study did well, Kelly said, was highlight the government's poor system of data reporting for colleges.

The Student Right to Know Act was passed in 1990 and required institutions to report graduation rates to the federal government. Institutions are given the opportunity to provide transfer rates, but many of them don't. Only 490 schools of the 1,400 in the study submitted transfer rates; most of the South Dakota schools did not.

"There are few incentives for them to report it accurately and no incentive for the government to police reporting," Kelly said.

But even with all of the transfer rates and non- traditional students reported, Kelly estimates that the gap between those two numbers is not as large as people would think.

"The punch line is the same," he said. "There are these huge gaps between schools that have similar admissions criteria. It's possible that they have transfer rates of 50 percent that explain that gap, but it's doubtful."

Kelly understands that a school such as National American University - which had a 15 percent graduation rate - is facing different challenges than a school like the University of Michigan.

"Even if we knew the transfer rate at NAU, we don't know how many go on to graduate," he said. "The solution is an entirely different system."

Kay Schallenkamp, president of Black Hills State, which had a reported 22 percent graduation rate, said the challenges are regional, as well.

"The philosophy in the Midwest, by and large, is access to education and no selectivity of institution," she said.

Students in other parts of the U.S. might identify with a competitive institution at a very young age because their family went there, and they were raised with the mindset that they should continue the tradition. "That's a very different student than you'll see in the Midwest," she said. "We don't have the high-profile institution. We have no Yale."

It's not fair to beat up schools that have a different culture, she said. Regardless of why students attend Black Hills State, "we do care whether people complete their degrees," she said.

This is what school officials should care about, Kelly said, whether they are catering to the student who knew he was going to attend the school since he was 5, or someone simply looking to take a few courses.

"Any accountability system or measure must include graduation rates because that is part of a college and university's fundamental mission," he said.

He hopes the study spurs officials to continue to look at ways to not only get students in the door, but on their way out with a diploma - and that policymakers will move to improve the way graduates are tracked.

"And always with an eye toward thinking about ways to develop some way to hold institutions that take federal and state money and students' tuition accountable," Kelly said, "and that effort has to be much broader than graduation rates."

Contact Kayla Gahagan at 394-8410 or kayla.gahagan@rapidcityjournal.com