Our View: Failing grade for CSUs on grad rates
Everyone knows the Cal State schools are the workhorses of California’s public university system. Nearly 400,000 students are enrolled at 23 California State University campuses, which last year awarded more than 105,000 bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
That said, everyone increasingly knows something else: Cal State graduation rates are nowhere near what they should be.
A chart in Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget summary said it all: Less than 20 percent of full-time CSU freshmen graduate in four years, despite concerted efforts to help struggling students. Cal State San Luis Obispo, which has the highest four-year graduation rate in the system, still gets fewer than half of all full-time students out in four years.
At most other campuses, the numbers are far worse, and nowhere near the 34 percent national average for public universities.
At CSU Stanislaus, the four-year graduation rate is less than half the national rate at 15 percent. But that’s far from the worst number in the system. CSU Los Angeles is less than of Stan State’s rate at 6 percent, and Sacramento State is only at 9 percent. Cal State Dominguez Hills is the worst at 5 percent.
Yes, we recognize that the Cal State system has a challenging student body. Many students, are among the first generation in their families to attend college, and 80 percent receive financial aid. A great many must work part-time jobs to defray expenses and a sizeable number are caring for children. That’s why more than half of all CSU students are part-timers and community college transfers. Those who are full-time students tend to do better.
Many arrive underprepared; at Dominguez Hills, 80 percent of freshmen need remediation in English and math.
Cal State is trying to improve graduation rates. At this week’s board of trustees meeting, Chancellor Timothy White noted that CSU’s current initiative has deployed more tenure-track faculty, online classes and additional tutoring – and it has helped.
In 2009, graduating in even six years was a triumph. Now, White said, the six-year graduation rate is 57 percent – 3 points higher than the target set in 2009 when the program began.
That’s nice. But what four-year university offers a sales pitch that you’ll need six years to make it to commencement?
As one trustee put it: “You look at this and you can only say ‘ouch.’ ”
More must be done. One of the most striking figures shown trustees saw Thursday was a breakdown of grad rates among freshmen who entered CSU without sufficient English and math prep. Students who learned to do college-level math and English in high school were four times more likely to graduate in four years than those who needed remediation. That’s an obvious memo to California’s K-12 school districts. The arrival of Common Core curriculum should help.
Lawmakers need to maintain funding for remediation and increase support for more intensive mentoring and advising. Aid could be conditioned on frequent one-on-one meetings with advisers – assuming the system commits to providing that level of counseling.
State Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, wants to offer incentives to undergraduates to finish in four years so the system has room for new students. He has taken note of the the 30,000 qualified CSU applicants who are turned away each year due to limits on funding and space.
Getting every CSU student a degree in four years might be a distant dream; five years is a more reasonable focus. Regardless, the numbers must come up.
This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 11:56 AM with the headline "Our View: Failing grade for CSUs on grad rates."