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SALT LAKE CITY — Too few students at the University of Utah graduate within six years compared to other competitive research institutions, according to a Legislative audit released today.
While schools like Pennsylvania State and the University of Washington have graduation percentages in the 80s, the U's graduation rate was 58 percent for the incoming class of 2003, according to the report.
Droves of freshmen and sophomores leaving for LDS missions doesn't explain the disparity, the report states, since when broadened to eight years, the university's rate "does not move the U of U into the top half of these very competitive universities."
What's more, BYU, which wasn't part of the audit since it's a private institution, has a six-year graduation rate of 77 percent and even more students leaving on missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Higher Education Appropriation Subcommittee chairmen, Sen. Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George, and Rep. Michael Morley, R-Spanish Fork, requested the Office of the Legislative Auditor General investigate their concerns about graduation rates and excess credit hours at the U.
U of U: 53 percent
BYU: 77 percent Competitive average ACT math score for bottom 25 percent: 24
U of U: 20
Penn State: 25
The report recommends the university do more to beef up college admissions standards since "many enrolled students appear to be ill-prepared."
William Sederburg, commissioner of higher education, responded to the report, stating plans are already in place for dealing with the challenges outlined in the audit.
"College completion is a complex issue with a myriad of factors coming into play. The audit addresses college readiness, but even that has many facets," he wrote.
Sederburg goes on to state that marrying young and having children is a major contributing factor to students dropping out, and that's not examined in the report, which focuses on academics.
The audit examined the ACT college entrance exam scores for the bottom 25 percent of enrolled students at 17 competitive public universities. It focused on those students, the report states, because they are the most likely not to complete college.
The U's ACT math score for its bottom 25 percent was 20. The highest possible is a 36. That put it in last place with the University of Hawaii among the 17 schools auditors looked at. The U's English score was 21, tying it for second to last place with Colorado State, University of Illinois and the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Meanwhile, Penn State's bottom 25 percent had math and English scores of 25.
"Large percentages of students do not appear college ready," the report states.
Sederburg stated the Utah System of Higher Education is working to address college readiness through scholarship programs and outreach efforts like the Regents' Scholarships, Utah Scholars Initiative and conferences that teach junior high and high school students how to be prepared.
"Some of the recommendations are already in the process of being implemented," Sederburg writes.
Lorris Betz, interim president at the University of Utah, echoed Sederburg in his response.
"We believe that increasing admission standards is only part of the solution," he writes.
The university is supportive of the governor's Women in Higher Education task force, which will work on college retention for women, who drop out of college in greater numbers than men in the state.
Email:mfarmer@ksl.com
