by our College Data Analytics TeamMake an informed decision about your education by understanding how EIU'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 EIU . Remember, every extra semester it takes to graduate will increase the cost of your degree.
With 70.0% of students making it past their freshman year, Eastern Illinois University 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 Illinois , the average is 69.0% .
At EIU , there were 2,902 bachelors degree candidates in the class of 2016 . By 2018 , six years after beginning their degree, 60.7% of these students had graduated. After an additional two years, 61.9% 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 38.1% did not graduate within eight years. Of these 1,107 students, 10 were still working towards their degree, 781 had transferred to a different institution, and EIU lost contact with the remaining 315 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 33.0% , first-time students in the EIU class of 2016 who attended classes full-time had a graduation rate similar to the national average. After six years, the graduation rate was 55.2% and by 2020 ,56.8% 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.
Studies have shown that high-achieving students are more likely to complete their degree on time. Given the academic preparedness of the first-time / full-time students accepted to EIU , we expected that after six years about 46.2% of them would have completed their undergraduate degree.
Of these 599 students, 2 were still working towards their degree, 459 had transferred to a different institution, and EIU lost contact with the remaining 138 whom we assume dropped out.
With a six year graduation rate of 39.2% , first-time students in the EIU class of 2016 who attended classes part-time were among the most likely in the nation to graduate in a reasonable time. After eight years, the graduation rate was 41.9% .
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 43 students, 0 were still working towards their degree, 35 had transferred to a different institution, and EIU lost contact with the remaining 8 whom we assume dropped out.
With a six year graduation rate of 71.8% , returning students in the EIU class of 2016 who attended classes full-time were more likely than average to graduate in a reasonable time. After eight years, the graduation rate was 72.1% .
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 311 students, 4 were still working towards their degree, 220 had transferred to a different institution, and EIU lost contact with the remaining 87 whom we assume dropped out.
With a six year graduation rate of 51.2% , returning students in the EIU class of 2016 who attended classes part-time were more likely than average to graduate in a reasonable time. After eight years, the graduation rate was 53.3% .
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 153 students, 4 were still working towards their degree, 67 had transferred to a different institution, and EIU lost contact with the remaining 82 whom we assume dropped out.
