Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919.

What is UT doing to help you graduate on time?

The Independent Collegian

Editorial Board

Hang on for a minute...we're trying to find some more stories you might like.


Email This Story






image_pdfimage_print

Not only are we the editorial staff of the University of Toledo newspaper, we are also students here. And when we discovered how awful our on-time graduation rate is, we felt a little disappointed, but we weren’t totally surprised.
A quick poll around our office showed the same trend. We could all think of at least three students who have prolonged their stay at UT by a semester or even a year.
According to the College Factual webpage, out of the 44 percent of UT students who graduate, only 22 percent graduate on time.
Their website stated that, “this ranks the school among the worst in the country at graduating students on-time.”
None of us seemed shocked to hear this information; it was not news to us. But why were we so complacent with this number? It is truly a horrible statistic, and graduating late affects the lives of college students after graduation as well.
The ugly truth is that college is expensive, and adding any time to your degree program is very costly, especially when most scholarships are not granted after four years. The loan money will pile up if you don’t graduate on time, and for a majority of students, that is becoming a very real problem.
So we began to ask ourselves, “What is UT doing to get students to graduate on time?”
The overall disposition seems to be, “Take your time, you’ll finish when you finish, just keep going.”
It is true that a degree is still a degree whether you finish in four years or six, but a degree will cost a lot more if it takes you six years.
Sure, UT assigns students advisors and success coaches, teaching us how to utilize our degree audits. But is this enough to get students to stay on track to graduate on time?
All it takes is one thing — a semester abroad, or failing one class, or switching majors, or missing a class requirement — to derail your graduation timeline. Why aren’t we more aware of these possible derailing factors?
We don’t mean to overly criticize UT; the current dual goal of enrollment and retention is very important and is showing results. We just want to make sure that on-time graduation does not slip through the cracks. It is equally important because we are the ones paying.
And perhaps it falls on the shoulders of the students, and it should be their responsibility to make sure they graduate on time. But that begs the question, “Do we have lazy or unfocused students? What can we as a college community do to foster a climate of success without too much pressure?”
We don’t want to pressure students to graduate as fast as they can and push them out of the nest before they are ready, but we also don’t want to over-nurse them and cost them thousands of dollars extra.
We don’t have all the answers, but perhaps we just need to keep encouraging students to keep in mind the consequences of even a slight derailment, and to continue to coach them through possible derailments.
Our overall graduation rate is on par with the national average, which means we are doing an OK job at placing degrees in students’ hands; we are just doing it at a slower pace than the national average.
If we want UT to continue growing as a nationally recognized university, we need to strive to keep students on the right path toward graduating on time.

Print Friendly

Leave a Comment

Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919.
What is UT doing to help you graduate on time?