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CSULB on ‘Hall of Shame’ list

GradRate.com, a college and university evaluation website that relies almost entirely on graduation rates, has placed Cal State Long Beach on its “Hall of Shame” list.

The website, which did not rank colleges and universities in any particular order, featured one school per state on its list.

“There were several California schools that were in the same ‘bracket’ as CSULB. The sheer size of Long Beach’s student population meant that each statistic, such as your four-year [graduation] rate, had a greater impact on a greater number of students,” said David Happe, creator and operator of GradRate.com.

President F. King Alexander dismissed the website, calling it a “poorly educated operation,” in a statement.

“[GradRate.com] has ignored all the national and state rankings and randomly selected institutions not because they are the worst as they proclaim, but for some unknown reason that has little to do with the facts in each state,” he said, criticizing the website’s over-reliance on graduation rates.

Graduation rates are determined by calculating the percentage of students that start at, and graduate from, a specific school, in any given time period. The U.S. Department of Education calculates four-year, six-year and eight-year graduation rates.

CSULB boasts a modest six-year graduation rate at 54 percent, but pales in comparison to most top-tier universities with a 13 percent four-year rate. The university’s six-year rates, compiled for 2008, have, however, increased by 13 percent since 2003.

According to a recent report released by the Southern Regional Education Board, CSULB admits a sizable number of Pell Grant recipients and a majority of freshmen who are deficient in California State University standards for math and English. This could be a contributing factor to lower graduation rates.

Happe, nevertheless, insists that he compiled this list for the benefit of college students. “I am absolutely not anti-college, I am pro-information. I think we owe college students better results at best and better information at worst,” he said in an e-mail.

Entrepreneur and author of “Launching Points: 50 Careers That Don’t Require A Four-Year College Degree,” Happe believes that companies like U.S. News & World Report undervalue graduation rate statistics. The creator of GradRate.com suggests that these statistics are increasingly important in the current fiscal environment.

“In the business world, we would call it return on investment, right? When we set out in business to make an investment, we want to know what we will get for the investment and how to maximize it,” Happe said.

Happe believes schools with higher graduation rates are better investments.

“The schools with the higher [graduation] rates have a better strategy to get students through the system faster,” Happe said. “Not only does that save you tuition money, but in some cases it can eliminate debt and get you earning money from your degree faster.”

According to Happe, however, low graduation rates don’t necessarily mean a university lacks quality.

“Quality is more a measure of the value of what is taught than what the graduation rate is,” Happe said. “I trust the professors to deliver a quality education and would significantly differentiate that from a graduation rate. I would hold the administration accountable for the graduation rate.”

While Happe has faith in college professors, he still thinks college isn’t for everyone and that may be his most startling point.

“Tuition is increasing faster than salaries. Colleges want to take all comers and eventually filter out the ones who will never graduate. That’s a pretty rough reality for the kids that accumulate tuition payments and long term debt and never graduate,” Happe said.

CSULB has a myriad of programs to help students and this may have a lot to do with the ability of students, themselves.

“Why does the University of California Los Angeles have a 64.9 percent four-year graduation rate while CSULB has a 13 percent four-year graduation rate?” Happe asked. “I’m not the best guy to answer that question, but someone should be answering that question.”

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