4 year colleges?

How long will it take you to make it through college? Most people will quickly think to themselves "4 years" because most WKHS students are looking at 4-year colleges.

Unfortunately, that is not always the reality. While a traditional college is a 4-year school, for many students it is not always realistic that their students will, in fact, graduate in 4-years. You may wonder why this matters now, but it is very important for you to look at the 4-year graduation rates when you are considering colleges for your future because the longer it takes you to graduate from high school, the more you will be taking on in costs for college as well as the longer it will take you to graduate and get out into the working world or to move on to grad school.

You can usually find the 4-year graduation rates on college websites, but it isn't always easily accessible. This is a link to a US Department of Education website called College Navigator where you can search for schools and then by looking at the retention/ graduation rate area you will be able to see the statistics for each school in an easily accessible way.

Each school's 4-year graduation rates should not be your sole factor in making a decision, but it is another piece of the puzzle to help you. You should use the information to help you ask more questions about why their graduation rates are so low. Is it because it is too difficult to schedule classes when you need, is it because the costs are too expensive, is it because students change majors too many times so they end up with a lot of classes that do not help them toward their major, etc.

Happy Searching as you look for the school that is the best fit for you and your future.