Graduation rates are one of the main factors considered when determining the quality of universities, but they remain a work in progress for many higher education institutions.
One criticism of the graduation-rate calculation in universities is that transfer students, who account for 20 percent of U.S. college students, are not included.
About one in every five students who enrolls for the first time in a four-year institution is a transfer student, according to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Education.
Under the department's definition of determining an institution's graduation rate, only full-time, first-time undergraduate students who seek a degree or certificate in a particular year are counted in graduation rates.
For UT, this means that about 2,250 transfer students who enrolled in last year's fall semester will be excluded from graduation rates counted by the University's Office of Information Management and Analysis.
"The method is accurate but not adequate," said Kristi Fisher, the office's associate vice provost. "The report counts what they should. It just doesn't encompass everyone."
The office collects UT's graduation rates each year and releases the information to state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education. According to the recent statistics, 44 percent of UT students graduate in four years.
"We are all actively trying to find a better way to include other populations on a national level," Fisher said. "There's nothing wrong with the way we're doing it now, but it does not capture transfer students. It becomes difficult to report those who transfer from another institution."
According to the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers Web site, "Calculation of graduation rates suffers from a number of deficiencies that significantly undermine their accuracy." One of the main problems is the issue of including transfer students, who are counted as "dropouts."
The UT System created the Graduation Rates Initiative in 2006, setting a goal to increase the graduation rate at all 15 UT System institutions to 60 percent for students graduating in four years and 85 percent for students graduating in six years.
Graduation rates at UT System schools have increased since the system implemented the flat-rate tuition policy in 2005, which charges students the same tuition regardless of the number of hours taken above 12.
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