Miami, XU top area graduation rates | News

OXFORD (FOX19) - Miami University is the top public university in the region and one of top ten in the nation when it comes to four-year graduation rates, while Xavier University is tops locally among private colleges and universities.

US Department of Educaiton figures say that in 2009 Miami students attained bachelor's degrees within four years 67 per cent of the time.  81 per cent of Miami students reached that level within an eight year window.

When private schools are added to the list, Miami is edged out by Xavier University, which had rates of 70 per cent in four years and 82 per cent in eight years.  Xavier and Miami were both beaten by the regional leader, the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN, which graduated 90 per cent in four years and a mind-bending 96 per cent in eight years.

Among other four-year public universities in the region, UK and Ball state tied after 30 per cent for four-year graduation, followed by UC and Wright State at 18, Miami-Hamilton at 12, NKU at 9, and Miami-Middletown at 7 per cent.  The government didn't report separate figures for UC's branch campuses in Blue Ash and Batavia.

A release from Miami says the top five [public] schools for four-year graduation rate in 2009 are the College of William and Mary, University of Virginia (main campus), the United States Naval, Military and Coast Guard academies.

The rates are not purely an indicator of academic success; commuter schools with lots of part-time students inevitably have lower rates. To put it another way, as Miami does, the rankings favor schools that serve conventional, full-time students.

Here is a list of major local four-year institutions along with selected schools from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana.  It was obtained by FOX19 from a U.S. Department of Education data search.

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