On Time Graduation

A NYTimes story today discusses, well, see the lede below:

The vast majority of students at American public colleges do not graduate on time, according to a new report from Complete College America, a nonprofit group based in Indianapolis.

The story continues:

At most public universities, only 19 percent of full-time students earn a bachelor’s degree in four years, the report found. Even at state flagship universities — selective, research-intensive institutions — only 36 percent of full-time students complete their bachelor’s degree on time.

UGA does pretty well in this regard, according to its data. As you can see below, over half of freshmen have graduated in four years since 2004 and, in the most recent freshman class to reach the four-year mark, 63 percent graduated. I'm really impressed by the fraction of a percent who graduate in two years. Wow.

Cohort Year	# Students	1 Year	2 Years	3 Years	4 Years
2004	4,500		0.7	2.7	53.6
2005	4,654		0.7	2.6	55.3
2006	5,059		0.7	3.0	55.2
2007	4,675		0.8	3.0	57.8
2008	4,778		0.8	3.3	60.8
2009	4,675		0.6	2.5	62.5
2010	4,667		0.6	3.1	63.0
2011	5,470		0.6	2.5
2012	4,922		0.2
2013	5,218