Placing College Graduation Rates in Context: How 4-Year College Graduation Rates Vary

This report uses data primarily from the 2004 Graduation Rate Survey (GRS), a component of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) to provide a systemwide overview of how graduation rates of comparable 4-year institutions vary with the size of the low-income population enrolled. The study classifies institutions in three ways: (1) by their 2000 Carnegie Classification aggregated to doctoral, master's, or bachelor's degree; (2) by their admissions policies, using a measure of selectivity—very, moderately, or minimally selective; and (3) by the size of the low-income population—small, moderate, or large—based on the proportion of full-time, first-time, degree-seeking freshmen who receive federal grant aid. The study showed that graduation rates dropped systematically as the proportion of low-income students increased, even within the same Carnegie classification and selectivity level. Variations by gender and race/ethnicity also were evident. Women graduated at higher rates than men, and in general, as the proportion of low-income students increased, so did the gap between female and male graduation rates. The gap in graduation rates between White and Black students and between White and Hispanic students, on the other hand, typically narrowed as the proportion of low-income students increased.