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STUDENT
RIGHT-TO-KNOW
Graduation Rates
The Student Right-to-Know
and Campus Security Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-542) amended the Higher Education Act
by imposing student consumer information requirements on all institutions and
additional requirements on institutions that
award athletically-related aid.
The student consumer requirements are separated into three
categories: completion or graduation rates (in Title I of the Act);
athletically-related aid (also in Title I of the Act), and campus crime
(described in Title II of the Act).
In Title I of the Act, it
states that effective July 1, 1993, all institutions must provide completion or
graduation rates of full-time certificate or degree-seeking students. This
disclosure is added to the statutory list of student consumer information that
appears in section 668.43 and 668.44 of the General Provisions regulations.
In calculating this rate, a student is counted as a
completion or graduation if, within 150 percent of the normal time, the student
has either completed or graduated from the program or enrolled in any program of
eligible institution for which the program provided substantial preparation.
However, the completion or graduation rates of students who leave school to
serve in the armed services, on official church missions, or with a recognized foreign
aid service of the federal government may be excluded from the disclosures
calculations.
Completion or graduation rates must cover the year ending
on June 30 of the preceding year, and must be updated at least biennially.
The law also directs the Secretary of Education, in
conjunction with the financial aid community, to analyze and report to Congress,
the feasibility and desirability of additional consumer information such as:
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a breakdown of completion or graduation rates by school or academic division;
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pass rates on applicable licensure or certification examination;
and, employment statistics.
Athletically-Related Aid Disclosures
The Student Right-to-Know Act imposes additional student
consumer requirements for institutions that participate in any Title IV program
and that are attended by students receiving athletically-related student aid.
“Athletically-related student aid” means any scholarship, grant, or other
form of financial assistance, the terms of which require the recipient to
participate in a program of intercollegiate athletics.
Three sub-categories of statistics about receipt of
athletically-related aid and graduation or completion rates for student-athletes
must be disclosed. The required disclosures must be made to student-athletes
themselves as well as their parents, guidance counselors, and coaches when the
situation offers athletically-related student aid to a potential
student-athlete.
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The institution must disclose the number of students at the institution,
broken down by race and sex. It must also disclose the number of students who
received athletically-related aid, broken down by sex and race, in the following
sports:
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The institution must give the completion or graduation rate for the
students broken down by race and sex. It must also give completion or graduation
rates for recipients of athletically-related student aid broken down by sex and
race in the same sports listed above.
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The institution must disclose the average completion or graduation rates
for its four most recent completing or graduating classes of students broken
down by race and sex. It must also disclose this average rate for recipients of
athletically-related aid, broken down by race and sex, in the same sports listed
above.
The completion or graduation rates of students and
student-athletes who leave school to serve in the armed service, on official
church missions, or with a recognized foreign aid service of the federal
government may be excluded from the reporting requirements.
The Secretary of Education is directed to waive the
requirements for any institution that is a member of an athletic association or
conference that has voluntary published completion or graduation rate data or
has agreed to publish data that the Secretary finds substantially comparable to
the information required by law.
Note: In
comparing graduation rates it is very important to compare these rates to
reliable benchmarks. The most reasonable comparison for UWA is other public and,
more important, AASCU (American Association of State Colleges and Universities)
institutions. These are public institutions many of which are regional and
similar in mission and study body composition to UWA. For both these figures UWA
compares favorably to national rates. Graduation rates are based on these
students who were unconditionally admitted.
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