Western’s six-year graduation
rates increased more than 12 percent from the entering class
of 1993 to the new class in 1997.
In Fall 1993, more than 1,500 new
freshman enrolled at Western, with 43.2 percent of those
students graduating within six years. Four years later nearly
the same number of new freshman entered with more than 55
percent of that class graduating. And for each year in-between,
the numbers continued to climb, according to data collected
by Western’s Office of Institutional Research and
Planning (IRP) for the Illinois Board of Higher Education
and the U.S. Department of Education.
A comparable study of national six-year
graduation rates indicates Western is above the national
average, which ranges from 41.9 percent nationally in 1993
to 42.9 percent in 1995. National figures for 1996 and 1997
have not yet been released. The IRP information illustrates
that of the new students entering WIU in Fall 1994, 46.6
percent graduated; of the new freshman coming in Fall 1995,
nearly 50 percent left the institution with a degree; and
of the students entering in Fall 1996, 50.7 percent graduated.
But it’s not just the new freshman
at Western persevering to get to graduation day; WIU student-athletes
are making an impressive showing as well. IRP statistics
reveal that for all new freshmen student-athletes entering
Western in 1993, 57.7 percent graduated. New student-athletes
coming into the university in 1996 had a graduation rate
of 66.7 percent, a nearly 10 percent increase in just three
years. The national average for student-athletes graduation
rate is 62 percent for those entering Division I schools
in 1996.
“We are very pleased with the
improvements in our graduation rate since this is a key
goal in the draft of our university strategic plan,”
said President
Al Goldfarb.
Western’s other initiatives
as part of the strategic plan to increase retention and
graduation rates include implementing a comprehensive academic
support services system that strengthens students’
skills most needed for academic success; create a mandatory
orientation program for all incoming freshman and transfer
students that addresses academic and social skills; and
create a set of first-year experiences that assist students
throughout their entire academic career.
“Western wants to continually
improve its six-year graduation rate by at least 5 percent
within the next five years,” Goldfarb said. “With
our current incentives, and by putting the initiatives in
our plan into action, we will have a support system in place
for our students to continue their many successes at Western.”
