An increase in four-year graduation rates of more than 84 percent since 2000 could help impress accreditors.
According to the Ball State state budget request for 2013-2015, 36.3 percent of students graduated in four years in May.
Despite this increase, Marilyn Buck, co-chair of accreditation steering committee, said the university’s goal is to rise to 50 percent by 2017.
“There’s an expectation that those going into a public institution will graduate in a timely manner,” she said. “If you’ve got better students, you’re going to have better graduation rates.”
Gloria Pavlik, a graduation and retention specialist, said bringing freshmen back for their sophomore year has been a focus of the university, which is something accreditors will look at.
First-year retention has gone from 74.7 percent for the freshman in 2007 to 79.4 percent for the freshman in 2012, according to the state budget request.
Pavlik said retention fell for the freshman in 2011 because federal financial aid distribution changed.
In order to receive full funding for some scholarships, students have to earn 67 percent of their attempted credits each semester.
“Many universities saw a similar one- to three-point decrease, so this is not something unique to Ball State or even the state of Indiana,” Pavlik said.
