Monday, April 23, 2012

US College Graduation Rates by Race by State - 2010 IPEDS

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Related Articles:
US College Graduation Rate by State for 2009-10 graduates
College Graduation Rates by State - 2009 Ranking
Data release: College Graduation Rates by State for 2008-09 graduates

Race in United States is a much debated topic. Tying race to discrimination is a sequel of historical events. The subsistence of the racism is continually disputed. The data revealed here is too limited to settle the disagreement. But we do hope the data can pointed to the weak spot in our education system and, hopefully, solutions with emphasis on personal obligation can be developed. In author's opinion, some of today's approach in improving minorities' education attainment is overreaching and is themselves racial biased and undermined the important principle of personal responsibility. Services should be made available to all regardless of race. It takes responsible person to seek helps. Which race group actually uses these services is not a racial issue.

Opinion aside, objective view of the data is definitely in order.

This analysis is based on the data released earlier by the CL Higher Education Center. The analysis dis-regards the non-residence alien. The US total also excludes US minor islands and territories.

The College Graduation Rates by Race for the US states are shown in table 1 while the table 2 shows the same data with the inclusion of US minor islands and territories with differences highlighted. The difference for Asian are mainly caused by the inclusion of the Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. The changes for Hispanic are the effect of including the Puerto Rico. The rest of the analysis would focus on the US states and Washington DC. Changes from last year's number are included in the parenthesis.

Compare with last year, the public-four-year, public-two-year and the private-not-for-profit-four-year sectors are seeing improvements. Basically, the graduation rate for all races in these sectors are either improved or stay the same. Viewing the data with respect to race, White-non-hispanic improved in all sectors while minorities showing mixed result.

Table 1 - US states - including DC
SectorNativeAsianBlackHispanicWhiteTotal







Public 4Yr35%65%36%(+1)44%57%(+1)54%
NProfit 4Yr(+3)49%(+1)76%44%(+2)59%67%(+1)65%
Profit 4Yr(-3)38%(+4)46%31%(-2)41%(+5)45%(+3)41%
Public 2Yr17%(+1)26%12%16%23%20%
NProfit 2Yr(-8)15%51%(-2)44%(-1)46%(+1)56%(-1)50%
Profit 2Yr(+1)59%(-3)69%(+2)49%(+2)65%(+2)65%(+1)60%
Overall32%57%32%40%50%47%

Table 2 - With US minor islands and territories**
SectorNativeAsianBlackHispanicWhiteTotal







Public 4Yr35%64%36%43%57%53%
NProfit 4Yr(+3)49%(+1)76%44%(+2)45%67%63%
Profit 4Yr(-3)38%(+4)46%31%(-2)39%(+5)45%(+2)40%
Public 2Yr17%25%12%(+1)17%23%20%
NProfit 2Yr(-8)15%51%(-2)44%(-1)62%(+1)56%(-2)53%
Profit 2Yr(+1)59%(-3)69%(+2)49%(+3)64%(+2)65%(+1)60%
Overall32%56%32%40%50%46%


Fig. 1 shows the US average graduation rates by race by sector. In general, White and Asian stand out in the public-four-year, public-two-year and private-not-for-profit-tour-year institutions. In other sectors, White and Asian college graduation rates are more comparable to other races. Overall, the public two year sector shows the lowest college graduation rates for all races (except the Natives). Within each sector, the Black usually exhibit the lowest rate except at the public four year sector, where the Native American show the lowest college graduation rate. It is also interesting to see that the private not-for-profit sectors have higher college graduation rates than their public counter parts.

Fig. 1 - US average graduation rates for each sector by race

Figure 2. present the same information as in Figure 1 except grouped by each race. Within all races, the private for-profit two year sector demonstrates high rates, only within White and Asian it seconds to the private not-for-profit four year sector. It is also remarkable to see how similar the rates within each race relative to each other - public-two-years are, in general the lowest. The private-not-for-profit-four-year and the private-for-profit-two-year are usually have the highest rate.

Fig. 2 - US average college graduation rates for each race by sector


== The following have not been updated to 2010 data yet =======
Figure 3 is an un-traditional display of a set of histogram for Asian. Each histogram/curve show the number of states at each graduation rate for a given sector. For example, there are 12 states that have college graduation rates for Asian greater than 55% and less than 60% for the public four year sector/curve while there are 9 states have college graduation rates greater than 30% and less than 35% for the private for-profit four year sector/curve.

Figure 3 demonstrates clearly that, for Asian, the average college graduation rates for each sector are representative except for the not-for-profit two year sector, where most of the states have a rate of 0% and rates are spread out without some kind of concentration or locality.

Fig. 3 - College graduation rate for Asian by sector


Figure 4 displayed similar information as in Figure 3 except it is for the Black. Even though the US average college graduation rate for the private not-for-profit four year sector is comparable to other sectors for Black, figure 4 shows that the rate varies a lot in regard to different states.

Fig. 4 - College graduation rate for Black by sector


Figure 5, 6 and 7 illustrate the same kind of information for Hispanic, Native American and White.

Fig. 5 - College graduation rate for Hispanic by sector


Fig. 6 - College graduation rate for Native American by sector


Fig. 7 - College graduation rate for White by sector


Figure 8 modeled after previous figures to display the college graduations rates for each race in the public four your sector. This chart clearly shows that the White and Asian are comparable except that there are some states where Asian exhibits higher rates.

Fig. 8 - College graduation rates for public four year sector by race


Figure 9 to 13 show the similar information as in Figure 8 for each sector.

Fig. 9 - College graduation rates for private not-for-profit four year sector by race


Fig. 10 - College graduation rates for private for-profit four year sector by race


Figure 11 is an very interested one. For one, this is the only one that all races are having good localities. Second of all, the White seems to be the one that is doing better even though the US average college going rates for public two year sector clearly show that the Asian is doing better than the White. The mystery is solved when dig deeper into the data. The data show that the high average college graduation rate for Asian in the public two year sector is caused by a single state with high Asian public two year sector enrollment, the California, which has a college graduation rate of 36% for Asian. This means that even though on average, Asian is doing good in public two year sector, it is not a Nation wide fact. It is also worth to note that the only state with meaningful high college graduation rates for the Native American is Wisconsin which enrolled 199 students. The other two states only enroll a total of 7 Native Americans. The other high rate state worth noting is the South Dakota, which post a rate of 64% for White.

Fig. 11 - College graduation rates for public two year sector by race


Figure 12 demonstrates that value of this kind of charts, where the meaning of average college graduation rates for private not-for-profit two year sector have very limited value.

Fig. 12 - College graduation rates for private not-for-profit two year sector by race


Fig. 13 - College graduation rates for private for-profit two year sector by race



Saturday, April 14, 2012

US College Graduation Rates by State - 2010 Ranking

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Related Articles:
Last Year's Ranking
US College Graduation Rates by State for 2009-10 graduates
College Graduation Rates by State for 2008-09 graduates
US College Graduation Rates by Race by State - 2009 IPEDS

Due partly to the economic downturn, college enrollments throughout the United State are going up and President Obama's call for more higher education have been partially answered. However, to fully respond to Obama's call for more education for our kids, we need pay attentions to students' success too. College graduation rate is one of such measures.

To pursue this agenda, we compiled the IPEDS graduation data collected by the US department of Education in a state by state basis. The idea is to put the data out in the public and, hopefully, it will be used to drive states' public education agenda and achieve the goal of improving our higher education's performance.

In doing so, we decided to publish the graduation rate data related to public institutions since, for most states, public institutions are what state governments have much more influence on. We also decided to concentrate on the public four year colleges and  the public two year colleges since, based on a published data, it had been shown that there are very few public institutions that fall into categories of less-than-two year or non-degree-granting institutions. The analysis excluded the non-resident alien.


By running summarized statistics on this two groups of schools, we found that, statistically, they deserved to be compared in separate groups. As shown in the following 2 charts, almost all states have a graduation rate between 40 and 70% for public four year institutions and a graduation rate between 10 and 40% for public 2 year institutions.

Public 4 year institutions:


Public 2 year institutions:


Exceptions to the rule above are the District of Columbia, the state of Alaska and the state of South Dakota. The District of Columbia has a very low rate (12%) for public four year institutions. But our data also show that District of Columbia had very low public four year enrollment. Most of the enrollment at District of Columbia are in private not-for-profit institutions. The state of Alaska has hardly any other type of institutions except the four year public institutions and the overall four year public institution rate is at a low of 29%. As to the state of South Dakota, it simply have a very high graduation rate (53%) for its public two year institutions.

Ranking of the graduation rates for both the public 4 year institutions and public 2 year institutions are presented below:

For public four year institutions:

StateCohortGraduatesGraduation RateRankPrevious RankPrevious Rate





Iowa9,2126,39269%1169%
Delaware4,4393,05169%2664%
Virginia27,13318,55968%3268%
New Jersey15,48710,29566%4366%
California66,75143,50465%5565%
New Hampshire4,7873,08965%6465%
Washington15,5129,82263%7861%
Vermont3,1781,99763%81061%
Illinois24,92015,55862%91260%
Maryland14,4999,04762%10763%
Pennsylvania42,62726,16961%11961%
Connecticut8,7055,24760%121360%
Michigan38,02922,74360%131459%
South Carolina14,7168,69559%141160%
North Carolina28,67716,93859%151559%
Wisconsin25,12914,60858%161657%
Rhode Island3,5162,03558%171956%
Arizona14,6938,37857%182355%
Minnesota16,2849,26457%191856%
Massachusetts13,0197,31856%202255%
Nebraska6,9263,85056%211756%
Missouri17,2529,46855%222455%
Oregon9,1454,95554%232553%
Kansas11,7576,36454%242155%
US Total913,162487,74953%53%
Wyoming1,48779053%252055%
Colorado20,64010,89653%262653%
Ohio44,29122,67951%273050%
Mississippi7,9433,97350%282752%
Indiana30,35615,09450%292852%
New York45,06621,96249%302951%
North Dakota5,9392,82948%313447%
Florida60,98428,92147%323148%
Texas59,79128,28847%333646%
Alabama17,0808,06647%343347%
Maine3,9911,85246%353247%
West Virginia10,3254,78946%363944%
South Dakota4,6072,12746%374144%
Tennessee17,4327,92945%383547%
Hawaii2,4841,11845%394342%
Kentucky16,5167,41445%403845%
Georgia29,84113,36745%413745%
Montana5,1112,21443%424044%
Oklahoma15,3376,40542%434242%
Utah8,7483,50940%444441%
New Mexico6,6222,65140%454540%
Idaho4,8231,88539%464837%
Louisiana23,8349,08738%474738%
Arkansas11,6294,35837%484638%
Nevada6,4302,38537%494937%
Alaska2,11060729%505026%
District of Columbia3223912%515111%

Compare with last year's graduation rate, state of Delaware made the biggest improvement of 5% and moved up 4 spots to land on the second place, just behind state of Iowa. Both the Delaware State University and University of Delaware improved by about 5%.


For public two year institutions :
StateCohortGraduatesGraduation RateRankPrevious RankPrevious Rate





South Dakota2,0451,08253%1161%
North Dakota1,07141439%2238%
Florida12,2944,68138%3337%
Utah3,7151,32436%4534%
Iowa12,6214,16433%5732%
Wisconsin10,8273,38331%6634%
Alaska29931%7436%
Nebraska4,1121,26831%81028%
Montana1,37942431%91924%
Kansas9,5262,88830%10832%
Wyoming2,32269530%11929%
Maine2,23759327%121425%
New Hampshire1,77546726%131625%
Minnesota16,9854,46826%141127%
Mississippi17,9024,51625%151525%
Georgia17,3974,38325%161825%
Washington9,3422,34325%171226%
California95,02623,77625%181325%
Kentucky8,0861,93624%191725%
Arkansas6,5491,45522%202221%
Colorado5,7531,21021%212023%
Missouri13,0542,68621%222121%
US Total628,788127,88420%20%
North Carolina19,0513,87220%232720%
Idaho1,74935420%242421%
New York50,8279,94220%252620%
Illinois27,5565,34219%262520%
Alabama14,5312,78319%272321%
Virginia17,0743,09418%282818%
New Jersey26,4964,59317%293116%
Oklahoma7,4571,29017%302917%
Nevada67911016%314511%
Arizona8,1331,31516%323215%
Massachusetts12,5992,02316%333016%
Vermont1923016%344212%
Louisiana6,9411,08316%353315%
Michigan19,8862,97215%363515%
New Mexico6,23091715%373813%
Pennsylvania17,2742,41714%383415%
Oregon7,05796614%393614%
Maryland13,7571,87414%403913%
Hawaii2,48833413%414113%
Ohio16,4122,18313%424013%
Texas50,9286,61513%434312%
Delaware2,29627712%444810%
South Carolina12,6171,43711%454411%
Tennessee11,8481,34511%464611%
West Virginia2,80429010%473714%
Connecticut6,16163710%484710%
Rhode Island2,2512089%49499%
Indiana6,8745939%50508%
District of Columbia000%51510%


Regarding to last year's data, state of Montana shows the biggest improvement in graduation rate for public two year institutions. State of Montana moved its rate up by about 7% and moved up 10 spots to earn the state number 9 spot in the ranking. Browsing through Montana's two year public schools, it revealed that almost all schools contribute to the overall improvement with Miles Community College leading the way with an improvement of about 22%, from 38 to 60%.

As we all know, reasons for variations in the rates are many. For example, the open access policy of school enrollment could easily affect the graduation rates. The posting and ranking of the state college graduation rates, nevertheless, provides the context for dialogs between citizen, policy makers and educators. Further research should help to reveal the favorable mechanism to improve college graduation rates.

Friday, April 13, 2012

US College Graduation Rates by State for 2009-10 graduates


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CL Higher Education Center

Related articles:
US College Graduation Rates by State - 2010 Ranking

College Graduation Rates by State for 2008-09 graduates
College Graduation Rates Ranking by State - 2008-09 Graduates
US College Graduation Rates by Race by State - 2009 IPEDS

The CL Higher Education Center just released the compiled state by state college graduation rate data for 2009-10 college graduates. The compiled rates includes state rates for different types/sectors of institutions breaking down by race and gender. Graduation rates for non-resident alien are also included.


The released data is based on the 2010 Graduation Rate survey conducted by the IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) division of the National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES) of the US Department of Education. For the IPEDS graduation rate survey, IPEDS only collect the race, gender and non-resident alien status from schools that offer degrees that take two or more years to complete. For schools that offers degrees with less than two years to complete, only the total head counts are collected. Short discussion on the scope and limitation of the IPEDS graduation rate survey can also be found in my previous article : College Graduation Rates by State for 2008-09 graduates.

For 2010, the overall college graduation rate for US citizen is 49% for the continental US states and D.C. assuming that all students attending less-than-2-years schools are all US citizen. For degree-granting schools, the US continental graduation rate is 46%. The corresponding rate for non-degree granting schools is 67%. For the 2010 survey, about 12% students accounted for attended non-degree-granting schools and most (74%) of the students attending non-degree-granting schools attending less-than-2-years institutions.

In terms of gender profiles, which is only applicable to colleges offer at least 2 year degrees, women posted an overall graduation rate of 48% for degree-granting schools while men posted a rate of 43%. In comparison, the non-resident alien women posted a rate of 51% while the alien men posted a rate of 48%. For non-degree-granting schools, US women posted a rate of 68% while men posted a rate of 64%. There are very few (a total of 264) non-resident alien enrolled in US non-degree-granting schools with an average rate of 63% (64% for women and 63% for men).

Related articles will be posted later.

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Where Did 2009-10 High School Graduates Go to Colleges?

CL Higher Education Center
 

Do you like to know where your high school graduates went to college? What percentage of your high school graduates went to out of state colleges? To what kind of colleges? Private or public? The recent data release from CL Higher Education Center can answer your questions.

IPEDS Higher Ed Residence and Migration - 2010 state level data released

The CL Higher Education Center just put out the early release of the state level summaries for the 2010 NCES IPEDS1 residence and migration survey. Institutions reported the state of residence of their fall-term first time degree seeking students to the Residence and Migration section of the IPEDS fall enrollment survey. The CL Higher Education Center aggregates the institutional level data into the state level summaries. Sector information is maintained through the aggregation process. What this mean is that, for a given state, user can tell how many of their students went to public(or private non-for profit) 4 year institutions outside of their state. Separate files are also published for people interested only in degree-granting institutions.

IPEDS Higher Ed Residence and Migration - 2010 state level data released

1The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System managed by the National Center for Education Statistics of US Education Department.