Graduation rate

Graduation rate = number of students in the cohort who completed a credential at the institution within 150 percent of normal time ÷ revised adjusted cohort × 100.

Institutions also report 100 percent and 200 percent rates, but the 150 percent figure is the primary Student Right-to-Know disclosure. Outcome Measures track broader cohorts (including part-time and non-first-time students) at six and eight years.

Example: a four-year institution’s fall 2018 full-time, first-time bachelor’s-seeking cohort, after allowable exclusions, contained 2,000 students. By August 2024 (six years later), 1,100 had earned a bachelor’s degree at the institution. The 150 percent graduation rate is 55 percent.

Retention rate looks only one year forward and counts continued enrollment (or completion at less-than-four-year institutions). Completion rate figures published by College Scorecard or other sources may use different cohorts, include transfers, or measure eight-year outcomes. The IPEDS graduation rate excludes part-time and transfer-in students from the primary cohort.

Comparing a six-year bachelor’s rate to a three-year associate rate without noting the different normal-time bases. Including students who transferred in as first-time. Treating the rate as a prediction for an individual student rather than a historical cohort outcome. Using an institution’s internal “graduation rate” that counts all students instead of the federal full-time, first-time definition.