Another University’s Statistics

During a recent conversation with a student from The University of Tampa (located in Tampa, FL), I was shocked to hear some of the stories he mentioned regarding graduation rates and student retention which prompted me to look up UT’s statistics on the Princeton Review website (www.princetonreview.com) to provide me with a more detailed snapshot of this school.

I found it to be very interesting that 27% of freshman do not return for their sophomore year. Even more shocking was that only 37% of students finish their bachelors degree in 4 years (63% do not). Even after 6 years, only 51% of students have completed such degrees- which still leaves a shocking 49% of students that still have not finished after a lengthy six years!

Much of this data is because UT’s administration has been working to increase the size of the student body, which has been successful with a record number of students enrolled for the past few years, but what they have forgotten is that if the quantity of students increases, then class sizes and course offerings need to be increased to facilitate such numbers- which shockingly, they have ignored.

Students are being forced to delay graduation and often even having to apply for postponements to their grad school acceptances due to many courses being offered “once every two years” (as stated in their catalog) and thus they are not being offered the courses that are required to graduate.