JMU ranked 16th in nation for graduation rate
Posted on January 24, 2008
JMU has an 81 percent graduation rate with most students graduating in 4.2 years.
“[This is] very high for an institution like us,” said Warner Mark Warner, vice president of student affairs.
Schools are required by federal law to submit graduation rates to IPEDS, the Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System. All schools have access to this information. The JMU Office of Institutional Research, compiled the data from there.
The national graduation rate factors in six years for a student to graduate. JMU ranks third behind The University of Virginia and The College of William & Mary. However, Warner said that the schools can’t be compared because the statistic is based on enrollment size and the number of students at each school isn’t comparable.
JMU is ranked 16th nationally for its graduation rate, behind schools such as Yale, Georgetown, Notre Dame and Duke, according to the JMU Office of Institutional Research, in the enrollment category of 10,000-18,000 students.
Warner said that in a “no limit” category, where enrollment size is not factored in, JMU ranks 32nd nationally.
“Most of the graduation rate has to do with quality of students you’re bringing in,” Warner said.
He continued to say that a student who has higher SAT scores and a higher GPA is more likely to graduate than someone who does not. Universities like Yale, Duke, and Stanford have higher graduation rates because students’ average SAT scores and GPA are higher.
“[The] biggest thing that improves graduation rate is the quality of faculty, staff and students having a community feel and philosophy of student success,” Warner said.
Warner also attributed JMU’s high graduation rate to the programs put in place to ensure student success.
“The more involved students are, the more likely they are to graduate,” Warner said.
Mary Slade, education professor, attributes JMU’s student success to being more involved in the community and having a sense of belonging and pride in being here. Having previously taught at William and Mary and UVA, Slade said she has found JMU’s students to be more committed to the school.
“[This is] the most student-centered and student-led campus I have ever taught on,” she said.
Slade said professors need to be committed and engaged with their students. She said the more professors know about their students, the better “[There is a] unique challenge as professors to really engage ourselves in working with students,” Slade said.
Senior Robert Burden said that JMU has such a high graduation rate because “everyone has such one on one contact with professors.”
Despite the disparity in numbers between schools, Dr. Warner says that JMU is comfortable with the current graduation rate.
“[It would be] worth our effort to enhance the quality of the education experience,” he said, rather than try to improve the graduation rate.
