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Assessment >
2007-2008 Length of Time to Degree Length of Time to Degree Introduction The length of time it takes for a student to earn a degree varies depending on the degree they are striving for and the amount of time the student has to devote towards courses required for that degree. We are providing this information as part of our ongoing evaluation efforts to provide information for making informed decisions. Currently Mountain State University offers undergraduate certificates, associate degrees, a bachelor’s degrees, post-bachelor's certificates, master’s degrees and post-master's certificates. In determining the length of time that our students are taking to earn a degree we started with the degrees awarded in the 2004-2005 academic year as a benchmark. The information contained in these reports is based on selecting all students whose degree confirmation date fell between June 1, 2007 and May 31, 2008 inclusive. Students were categorized by separating those with transfer work (transfer credit hours earned at an accredited institution) and those with no transfer work. The first time the student registered at MSU became the starting point for measuring the length of time to earn a degree. The time it took students to earn a degree was also broken down as a percentage of total degrees awarded and as a percentage of degrees awarded by type of degree for new students, transfer students and total. The supporting detail is also listed by major within degree type. Analysis The combined results from all three degrees indicate that as a percentage of total degrees, overall 28% earned their degree within two years and 74% earned their degrees within 4 years. Of those students who were working towards an associate’s degree, 21% earned it within two years while 71% earned it within four years. This means that 29% took longer than four years to earn their associates degree. It is interesting to note that 60% of the students working towards their associate’s degree with no transfer credit completed their degree within four years while 77% of those with transfer credit completed their degree in four years. It seems that with this group of graduates at the associate's level, students with transfer credit finish sooner than those without transfer credit. Of those students who were working towards their bachelor’s degree, 68% earned their degree within four years while 84% earned it within six years. The remaining 16% took longer than six years to complete their degree. It is interesting to note that 41% of the students with no transfer credit completed their degree within four years while 74% with transfer credit completed their degree within four years. It seems that with this group of graduates at the bachelor's level, students with transfer credit finish sooner than those without transfer credit. Of those students working towards their master’s degree, 59% earned their degree within two years while 95% earned it within four years. The remaining 5% took longer than 5 years to complete their degree. Of those students who had no transfer work, 61% completed their master’s within two years and 86% completed it within three years. Of those students with transfer work, only 25% completed their degree in two years and 69% completed it in three years. It seems that with this group of graduates at the master's level, students without transfer work seem to finish sooner than those with transfer credit. Trend Analysis We have four years worth of data to compare the length of time to degree from one academic year to past years. In reviewing the information for the last four years we see an overall increase in the length of time it takes our students to earn their degrees in all three degree levels. The percentage of students earning their associate degree within two years decreased by 5% from last year from 26% in 2006-2007 to only 21% in 2007-2008. However, the percentage earning their associate degree within three and four years increased by 4% and 4% respectively. As a result of these increases, the percentage of students taking longer than four years to complete their associate's degree decreased by 4% from 33% in 2006-2007 to only 29% in 2007-2008. The overall percentage of students earning their bachelor's degree within four years decreased by 7% dropping from 75% to 68%. Similarly, both those earning their degree within five years and six years decreased by 6% and 4% respectively. The percentage taking longer than six years increased by 4%. The percentage of students earning their master's degree within two years decreased by 10% from 69% to 59%. Those earning their degree within three and four years decreased by 2%. As a result of these decreases the percentage of student taking longer than four years to complete their master's degree increased by 2%.
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