4Grad Budget

Fourgrad-Developing (Photos)-

St. Edward’s encourages students to graduate within four years, and boasts a 4-year-graduation rate above the state and national average. What are the benefits and disadvantages of graduating within four years for students and the university? Is money the only issue? How does this stack up against other comparable universities? Wallace, Rogers, Weber, Shedd/ Guillett

Multimedia:

Photo: Photo of St. Edward’s graduation ceremony

Video: Compile a video of St. Edward’s students discussing how long they have been at St. Edward’s, when they plan on graduating, if they are satisfied or dissatisfied with this date, and what the contributing factors are.

Data: An interactive chart that compiles graphs of graduation rates, academic information and demographics of St. Edward’s students and students at some of our benchmark universities.

Sources:

-Collegeboard.

www.Collegeboard.com

Contains demographic and academic information for higher education institutes nationwide. The site allows you to contrast and compare various aspects of the schools’ offerings.

-Newsweek article, “Why college shouldn’t take four years”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/218183

An Op-ed in Newsweek that argues for a three-year Bachelors degree.

-Boston Globe article, “The Four-year college myth”

www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/05/31/the_four_year_college_myth

Another Op-ed piece, arguing that the four-year graduation plan is essentially a myth as it is difficult to achieve.

-A project of the American Enterprise Institute, “Diplomas and dropouts” report.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/06/03/using-college-graduation-rates-for-cost-benefit-analysis/

Contains a roster of enrollment, tuition rates, and graduation rates for hundreds of universities nationwide. This source will be useful for cross-examining rates, and could lead to a correlation between tuition fees and graduation rates.

-The Education Trust, College results online: St. Edward’s University

http://collegeresults.org/search1a.aspx?institutionid=227845

Contains charts of St. Edward’s graduation rates for years 2002-2007. Rates are also broken down by sex, racial demographics, and compared against similar universities.