CSUN Graduation Rate Up Slightly but Still Low, Report Says

The graduation rate of freshmen who entered Cal State Northridge in 1986 improved slightly over previous years, but the university’s graduation rate remains among the worst of the 298 major schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn., according to statistics released Thursday.

The latest batch of graduation rates compiled by the NCAA, used to allow prospective students to compare schools, shows that 31% of CSUN’s entering freshmen in 1986 had graduated after six years. CSUN’s six-year graduation rate for freshmen who entered in 1985 was 28%, according to NCAA statistics released last month.

The latest CSUN rates are well below the national average. An average of 55% of the 1986 college freshmen had graduated from NCAA Division I schools six years after they started, the association reported. Ivy League and University of California schools reported graduation rates well above 60%.

CSUN’s rate is better than those of 33 of the 298 NCAA Division I schools.

The school now ranks lowest among the seven Cal State campuses in the NCAA Division I for overall graduation rates of freshman classes from 1983 to 1986, NCAA records show.

The bleak statistics have prompted much talk in the past month by CSUN President Blenda J. Wilson. During campus and community meetings she has declared improvement of graduation rates a top priority.

Wilson was not available to comment on the latest statistics, her spokeswoman said.

“It’s a great concern to her,” said CSUN spokeswoman Kaine Thompson. “Although we don’t have real statistics to say why the rates are the way they are, the goal is to improve them.”

The school for years has been criticized for poor graduation rates, which are generally believed to be the result of inconsistent academic advisement and a shortage of general education courses.

Many students complain they are first told they need certain classes to graduate and then later are advised they need others.

Wilson said last month that many students take longer than six years to graduate because they are also working. She has announced plans to survey graduating seniors to find out what took them so long, and she has formed a student coordination council for freshmen and new transfer students.

Combining rates over four years, 29% of CSUN’s freshmen from the classes entering in 1983 through 1986 had graduated six years after they started, a rate in the bottom 10% of NCAA Division I schools.

New federal rules require colleges and universities to disclose the rates to all incoming students.