“The University gives a diploma and regretfully terminates tenure. But one never graduates from Ole Miss.”-Frank E. Everett, Jr.
These words hang above the Student Union stairwell as a reminder of the lasting bonds Rebels form during their college years with their classmates and their school community. When taken literally, however, the expression highlights the decline of the traditional four-year track at Ole Miss and other universities across the country.
According to the Office of Institutional Research, Effectiveness and Planning, 37 percent of Ole Miss students who enrolled in 2010 graduated within four years. Of those who began in 2009, 57 percent graduated within five years, and 61 percent of new student freshmen from 2008 graduated in six years.
Director of Admissions Whitman Smith said the numbers were surprising, but students can certainly earn an undergraduate degree from Ole Miss in four years.
“I was shocked when I first saw that, but it is what it is,” Smith said. “It is 100 percent possible.”
Smith said common issues that delay graduation include: money, health, time commitment, changes in major, poor grades and various personal concerns.
Gabbie Herman, senior sociology major, suggested the university focus more efforts on advising for a higher percentage of four-year graduates.
“The graduation process is difficult, time consuming, and you don’t receive enough information about it,” Herman said. “The focus needs to be on the advisors— it’s a lack of communication on their part.”
Completing the minimum number of credit hours to graduate requires a student to enroll in 15 hours per semester for eight semesters. If a student were to take a full course load of 19 hours each semester, with 12 hours in the summer, and one intersession class, he or she would receive a degree in two and a half years.
Smith said, in order to bolster higher retention and graduation rates, the University needs to support first-generation students. This initiative can be accomplished by promoting social activities and events geared specifically toward that demographic.
However, it is imperative to evenly distribute the correct tools to all students in order to offer the best possibility to graduate on time.
“I know we have lots of efforts underway from a lot of different offices that clearly are making a difference, especially if you look at how our stats are improving in graduation and retention,” Smith said.
Of students that enrolled at the University in 2002, 29.9 percent of students graduated within four years, 49 percent in five, and 53.3 percent in six. Statistics from the National Center for Education Statistics indicate those graduation rates were low for the time. According to the center’s numbers on the national rates, 36.4 percent of students who enrolled in four-year institutions nationwide in 2007 graduated within four years from the same college or university. Of the same cohort, 52.3 percent graduated within five years and 57.2 percent in six.
Jordyn York, sophomore marketing major, said the university could do more to promote graduating on time. “There’s a mentality that it’s all right to graduate in 5 years, there’s no incentive to make people strive for more,” York said. “I think Ole Miss should offer more scholarship opportunities for summer and intersession classes, because I don’t think it’s possible to graduate in four years without it.”
In a report from the Chronicle of Higher Education utilizing 2010 graduation statistics, the University ranked first in the state and 31st in the nation in graduation rates, beating the national average for four and six years.
