UW-Madison Progress to Degree Measures for Undergraduates

1. UW-Madison Progress to Degree Measures for Undergraduates Academic Planning and Institutional Research Office of the Provost, University of Wisconsin - Madison July 2013 https://apir.wisc.edu/timetodegree/ProgresstoDegreeMeasuresFinal.pptx

2. Overview Two metrics exist to measure undergraduate progress to degree: Time-to-degree and graduation rates. Time-to-degree • Starts with a graduation cohort consisting of the students who completed a bachelor’s degree in a given year, and looks backwards to measure the amount of time (including summers) between their first term at UW-Madison and their graduation date. • A shorter time-to-degree is better. Graduation Rates • Starts with an entrance cohort consisting of first-time new freshmen and looks forward to measure the percent who have graduated from UW-Madison by a specific time period, typically after four, five, and six years. • A higher graduation rate is better.

3. Undergraduate Time-to-Degree • Definition: Number of calendar years that elapsed between the start of a student’s first term as a new freshman and graduation (commencement date). • Population: Bachelor’s degree recipients in 2011‐12 who started at UW‐Madison as new freshmen. • UW-Madison’s overall time-to-degree is slightly longer than the average time-to-degree at other AAU institutions. • Average time-to-degree varies by program. * • Average time-to-degree is 4.15 years • Modal time-to-degree is 3.7 years, or 4 traditional academic years. • Median time-to-degree is 3.7 years, or 4 traditional academic years. Time-to-degree data is for the 2011-12 degree cohort who started as full-time new freshmen. Peer comparisons limited to majors with at least five graduates.

4. Time-to-Degree for UW-Madison Bachelor’s Degree Recipients vs. Average of AAU Public Institutions, by Program Majors on this side of the dotted line have an average time-to-degree that is shorter than the average of similar programs at peer institutions Communication Sciences and Disorders

5. Time-to-Degree for UW-Madison Bachelor’s Degree Recipients vs. Average of AAU Public Institutions, Programs with >50 UW-Madison Graduates Majors on this side of the dotted line have an average time-to-degree that is shorter than the average of similar programs at peer institutions Majors on this side of the dotted line have an average time-to-degree that is longer than the average of similar programs at peer institutions

6. Some UW-Madison majors have a shorter time to degree than the peer average. Majors above line have anaverage time-to-degree >1 standard deviation (.296 calendar years)longer than the average of public AAU institutions for that major. Majors below the line have an average time-to-degree >1 standard deviation (.296 calendar years) shorter than the average of public AAU institutions for that major. Some UW-Madison majors have a longer time-to-degree than the peer average

7. UW-Madison Majors with Time-to-degree at least half a semester (0.2 years) longer or shorter than peers Majors below the line have an average time-to-degree >1 standard deviation (.296 calendar years) shorter than the average of public AAU institutions for that major. Majors above line have anaverage time-to-degree >1 standard deviation (.296 calendar years)longer than the average of public AAU institutions for that major.

8. Graduation Rates • Definition: Cumulative percentage of a new freshman cohort who have graduated by a specified time period. It is typically measured at four, five, and six calendar years from entrance. • Population: Graduates who started as new freshmen and graduated within 6 years, by year. • UW-Madison’s five and six-year graduation rates are above the average of all AAU institutions, AAU public institutions, and Big Ten institutions. • UW-Madison’s four-year graduation rate is lower than the average for All AAU institutions and Big Ten institutions. Graduation rates are for the 2007, 2006, and 2005 cohorts, respectively. Data source is the CSRDE data submission

9. Comparison of Four, Five, and Six-Year Graduation Rates among AAU Institutions = AAU Private = AAU Public = UW-Madison 85% = UW-Madison Goal

10. Comparison of Graduation Rates atUW-Madison to AAU Institutions • UW-Madison ranks 17th among all AAUs for highest graduation rate at six years. • UW-Madison’s rank at four years is ten places lower (27th) than the six-year rate. • UW-Madison’s goal is to raise the four-year rate to at least 60% (270 additional students). • UW-Madison’s four-year graduation rate would need to be 66% to achieve the same rank (17th) as our four-year rate.

11. Implications • There is an expectation that public universities will support students to graduate in a timely way. While UW-Madison is average among the AAU public peers in time-to-degree metrics, most elite public universities have shorter time-to-degree and higher graduation rates than UW-Madison, particularly when measured at the four-year mark. • UW-Madison can better meet these goals if we improve the four year graduation rate to at least 60%, and reduce average overall time-to-degree to under four calendar years. • Increasing UW-Madison’s four-year graduation rate would have the consequence of shortening the overall average time-to-degree for bachelor’s degree recipients.

12. Additional Resources • This PowerPoint presentation is available for download at: https://apir.wisc.edu/timetodegree/ProgresstoDegreeMeasuresFinal.pptx • Additional information on time-to-degree metrics, including time-to-degree by program and peer data by program is available at: https://apir.wisc.edu/ttd.htm • Additional information on retention and graduation rates is available at https://apir.wisc.edu/retention.htm • Contact Sara Lazenby (sllazenby@wisc.edu) for further assistance.