Keith,
There has been a paradigm shift in higher education. When I began teaching in 1976 the stated policy was teach to the top ten % of the class and don’t worry about the rest. When I taught at Florida International university, the pass rate for the beginning finance class averaged about 20-30%. Now the new mantra in higher education is retention. In fact some state governments have gone so far as to change their funding formula for the universities to be based upon the graduation rates. Consequently there is a significant economic incentive to pass everyone and not let people fail out. jerry From: Gatortalk@googlegroups.com [mailto:gatort...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of ke...@baldwinnc.com Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 5:23 AM To: gatortalk googlegroups Subject: [gatortalk] RE: [gatornews] [SUN]: UF gets kudos for top graduation rate WOW. How attitudes change with time. When I was at UF - UF was proud of the fact that they flunked out so many students. They were proud of the fact that only 1/3 of the students graduated and 2/3 of the students flunked out. Made them appear to be a better school. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [gatornews] [SUN]: UF gets kudos for top graduation rate From: "Shane Ford" <goufgat...@bellsouth.net> Date: Thu, June 04, 2009 9:45 pm To: gatorn...@googlegroups.com (GatorNEWS) UF gets kudos for top graduation rate Contributed by Nathan Crabbe <http://chalkboard.gainesville.com/> – Gainesville SUN Posted: June 4, 2009 10:17:04 AM The University of Florida graduates more than 80 percent of its students within six years, the top rate in the state. A recent study by the American Enterprise Institute <http://www.aei.org/docLib/Diplomas%20and%20Dropouts%20final.pdf> ranks UF's graduation rate as second-best among highly competitive schools in the south. Another state school, New College of Florida, was rated second-worst in the same category for its 56 percent graduation rate. Some of the state's private universities fared even worse. Edwards Waters College, a historically black college in Jacksonville, ranked last in the state with a 9 percent graduation rate. The study comes as UF tries to improve its graduation rate even more. As I reported last week <http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090528/ARTICLES/905281023> , UF officials say ensuring students graduate in a timely manner opens spots for others as the university reduces its enrollment. -- Nathan Crabbe nathan.cra...@gvillesun.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
