Transfer and Completion
Six-Year Completion Rates: Wisconsin
What Is Measured?
Percentage of students who graduated within six years
Who Is Counted?
Degree-seeking students who enrolled in Wisconsin Technical Colleges and transferred to the University of Wisconsin between 1995 and 2005
What It Tells Us
About one-third of degree-seeking students who enrolled in Wisconsin Technical Colleges and transferred to the University of Wisconsin between 1995 and 2005 graduated within six years of transferring (33 percent). Students in liberal arts had the highest rates of completion among the majors examined, while students in nursing had the lowest (48 percent vs. 22 percent).
Why It's Important
At community colleges, graduation means attainment of a certificate or associate degree. However, many students attend community colleges to take lower-division courses for a bachelor's degree, and some transfer to a four-year institution without obtaining a credential. From the perspective of the community college, these students have finished a curriculum that prepared them for transfer and, therefore, should be considered as having completed. Some states even track and report which community college students graduate from other institutions. Most sources, however, do not specify what proportion of transfer students have finished the coursework required for upper-division standing at the four-year college, and research suggests that many students transfer without reaching this threshold. A completion rate that combines transfer and degree attainment is sometimes referred to as a "success rate."