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Report Shows Mississippi Community College Students Perform Better than the National Average with Completion
Last week, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center released its annual state-level college completion study for community colleges, universities, and non-profit institutions. The report focuses on six-year student success outcomes beginning with first-time freshmen enrolling in the fall 2008 semester. The report is unique in that it tracks students who transfer to another school and graduate, thus providing a more accurate completion rate.
The report showed students at Mississippi’s community colleges completing their Associate’s Degree at a higher rate compared to the nation in several categories. The total completion rate for the six-year cohort at Mississippi community colleges was 46.01%, which ranked fifth nationally. The total completion for the U.S. was 39.13%. Additionally, the study showed that students who enroll full-time graduate at higher level. In Mississippi, 68.61% of full-time students graduated, which ranked fourth nationally. The total completion rate for full-time students in the U.S. was 57.00%.
The report also showed that total completion rates for our community colleges exceeded the overall U.S. rate among students age 20 or younger; students over age 20 through age 24; students over age 24; women; and men.
“All Mississippi community colleges have made a strong commitment to help our students complete their degrees, said Dr. Eric Clark, Executive Director of the Mississippi Community College Board. “The recent report issued by the National Clearinghouse shows that students who start their higher education at one of our state’s community colleges do better than the national average when it comes to finishing their degrees. According to the study, our fifteen community colleges’ total completion rate is ranked fifth in the country. This has been done through great cooperation between our community colleges and our public universities. When a student earns an Associate’s Degree or Bachelor’s Degree, that person benefits and all of Mississippi benefits as well.”
