UT-Austin Tops in System for Graduation Rates

By Tim Taliaferro in Promote & Protect on July 18, 2011 at 10:26 am | 16 Comments

Graduation Rates at UT System Schools

(Click graph for interactive data. Source:Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Data was gathered from students who enrolled in 2003.)

With reporting by Sam Bohmfalk

The University of Texas at Austin is the clear leader in four-, five-, and six-year graduation rates among UT System institutions.

Data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board show that UT-Austin outstrips its UT cousins, sometimes dramatically, in all three categories.

It should come as no surprise, really, that the flagship campus performs best in graduation rates. Because it is the flagship, it attracts the state’s students best-prepared for college. Those students tend to need less remediation and have a better chance at graduating—and in four years.

Compared with many of the smaller System schools, a higher percentage of UT-Austin students attend full-time. An often-overlooked element in assessing graduation rates is how many students attend part-time.

It’s far tougher for a part-time university student to graduate in four years than it is for a full-time student.

UT-Austin is the only Tier 1 institution in the System, although UT-Dallas is ascending rapidly.

The variance in rates by institution should give lawmakers and regents pause in applying single solutions to the entire System.

Strategies for improving rates at one institution may not work at another.

At UT-Austin, College of Liberal Arts dean Randy Diehl is chairing a task force on graduation rates.

Since 1983, UT-Austin’s four-year graduation rate has improved 59 percent.

Tags: graduation rates, ut austin, ut system