your right to know

Program Completion Rates

The federal government under the Student Right-to-Know legislation requires colleges and universities to report the percentage of students who began their studies full-time and then completed their programs within 150% of the normal time for completion. This time is three years for an associate degree.

In general, Dutchess Community College students compare favorably with other community colleges in the Hudson Valley. For full-time students entering DCC in the Fall 2001 semester, the percentage of students who graduated within a three-year period (25%) was higher than that of full-time students entering the other six regional community colleges. Corresponding percentages at these community colleges ranged from 17 to 22%.

The sample used to satisfy the federal report contains only first time full-time students. Since in many programs the majority of students enrolled are part-time, many successful students are not counted in the numbers above.

Several factors tend to delay graduation for community college students: three years is a relatively short time to complete a degree. Many community college students work full- time, and tend to change from one program to another and from full to part-time. They may “stop out” for a semester or more. Also more than half of the students entering DCC are required to take remedial courses which increases the time necessary to complete a degree.

Several positive factors can influence community college students to transfer out of the community college before completing their degrees. Reasons include the selection of a specialized career goal; desire for a full-time, residential campus experience and increased independence and confidence. Therefore, the transfer-out rate is a measure of the community college experience as a stepping stone to further success. For the cohort of Dutchess Community College students described above, the transfer-out rate is 18.2%.

Adding together these three measures of academic success (graduation, transfer out and continuing enrollment) we find the full-time students who entered DCC in the fall of 2001 have succeeded at a rate of 59%, which is also the highest in the group of community colleges referenced above.