by our College Data Analytics TeamMake an informed decision about your education by understanding how Cuesta College's retention and graduation rates impact you. First year retention rates let you know how many students come back for their sophomore year. Graduation rates tell you how long it takes to complete a degree at Cuesta College . Remember, every extra semester it takes to graduate will increase the cost of your degree.
With 69.0% of students making it past their freshman year, Cuesta College has freshman retention rates similar to the national average.
Nationwide, the average first year to second year retention rate is 69.0% . When looking at just colleges and universities in California , the average is 74.0% .
At Cuesta College , there were 12,663 bachelors degree candidates in the class of 2016 . By 2018 , six years after beginning their degree, 28.0% of these students had graduated. After an additional two years, 30.2% of this class eventually completed their degree.
We consider the "on-time" graduation rate for a bachelor's degree to be four years, but colleges typically report their graduation rates after six or even eight years.
This implies that 69.8% did not graduate within eight years. Of these 8,839 students, 229 were still working towards their degree, 4,128 had transferred to a different institution, and Cuesta College lost contact with the remaining 4,481 whom we assume dropped out.
First-time, full-time students under the age of 25 are much more likely to graduate in four years (on-time). Some schools cater mostly to traditional students while others cater to “non-traditional” students who may be attending part time and thus are likely to take longer to graduate.
Comparing the graduation rates of specific cohorts shown below will be more revealing than the overall statistics shared above.
With a four year graduation rate of N/A , first-time students in the Cuesta College class of 2016 who attended classes full-time After six years, the graduation rate was 42.6% and by 2020 ,44.7% of this class had completed their degree.
Nationwide, the average graduation rate for first-time undergraduates attending classes full-time is: 35.8% after four years, 46.4% after six years, and 47.8% after eight years.
Of these 579 students, 20 were still working towards their degree, 255 had transferred to a different institution, and Cuesta College lost contact with the remaining 304 whom we assume dropped out.
With a six year graduation rate of 14.0% , first-time students in the Cuesta College class of 2016 who attended classes part-time had a graduation rate similar to the national average. After eight years, the graduation rate was 16.8% .
Nationwide, the average graduation rate for first-time undergraduates attending classes part-time is: 21.6% after six years and 23.7% after eight years.
Of these 668 students, 16 were still working towards their degree, 180 had transferred to a different institution, and Cuesta College lost contact with the remaining 472 whom we assume dropped out.
With a six year graduation rate of 40.2% , returning students in the Cuesta College class of 2016 who attended classes full-time were less likely than average to graduate in a reasonable time. After eight years, the graduation rate was 42.4% .
Nationwide, the average graduation rate for returning undergraduates attending classes full-time is: 53.8% after six years and 55.1% after eight years.
Of these 2,358 students, 44 were still working towards their degree, 1,421 had transferred to a different institution, and Cuesta College lost contact with the remaining 893 whom we assume dropped out.
With a six year graduation rate of 20.0% , returning students in the Cuesta College class of 2016 who attended classes part-time were less likely than average to graduate in a reasonable time. After eight years, the graduation rate was 22.1% .
Nationwide, the average graduation rate for returning undergraduates attending classes part-time is: 36.0% after six years and 37.8% after eight years.
Of these 5,233 students, 149 were still working towards their degree, 2,272 had transferred to a different institution, and Cuesta College lost contact with the remaining 2,812 whom we assume dropped out.
