I'm not sure this is a very meaningful statistic. Or, put another way, don't make too much of it:
Three in 10 students enrolled at an Indiana four-year college graduate on time, and only half finish within six years, according to a report released Tuesday by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.
And at Indiana’s two-year campuses, fewer than one in 10 students finished on time, while 12 percent graduated within three years.
What the hell is "on time" anyway? If 70 pcercent don't graduate in four years, then that's a ratehr arbitrary time frame, isn't it? As the story indicates, students arrive on campus with "individual complex lives that may prevent them from finishing their degree in the specified four years."
After a year and a half at IPFW, I got tired of going to school full-time and working full-time (the only way I could afford college), so I dropped out and went into the Army for three years. Then I worked for a year, finally going back to finish college at Ball State on the GI Bill. So it took me seven years to get my degree, and it sure seemed "on time" to me.
More power to all those who have "invididual, complex lives" and plow ahead anyway, getting the degree "on time" for them.
