While not all undergraduates intend to earn baccalaureate degrees, graduation is still a goal of most students entering four-year colleges and universities.

6-year graduation rates at Minnesota 4-year institutions, 2008

University of Minnesota	61%
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities	48%
Private Colleges and Universities	72%
Total	61%

The graduation rate calculates the number of students entering the institution as full-time, first-time, degree-seeking students in 2002 who completed a bachelor's degree at the same institution.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS Graduation Rate Survey

See the January Insight report Graduation Rates Inching Up at Some Minnesota Colleges for more information on graduation rates at Minnesota colleges.

About graduation rates

The graduation rates reported here were developed by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, to be used for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Graduation Rate Survey. These national standardized rates were devised so that graduation rates could be compared across institutions.

The graduation rate tracks a cohort of students (defined as new-entering, full-time, first-time, degree-seeking) from their time of initial enrollment in a four-year institution until they complete a bachelor's degree or less within 150% of normal time to program completion at the same institution. For a four-year bachelor's degree program this means students who graduate within six years are successful completers and are included in the rate.

Graduation rates are influenced by a variety of factors. Students who transfer in or transfer out of an institution are not included in the graduation rate. Students who start full-time, and are included in the initial tracking cohort, may subsequently enroll part-time; prolonging their time to completion. In general, institutions which are more selective in whom they enroll have higher graduation rates than institutions that are not very selective.