Posted on Mar 22, 2005

The most recent report from Kentucky’s Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) shows that Murray State University is continuing its success in both graduation and retention rates. With a reported 57.3 percent baccalaureate graduation rate, the university is a leader among the state’s tax-supported universities, and tops the Kentucky average by 13 percentage points. Murray also posts an impressive 77.8 percent retention rate for new freshmen, which is well above the state average. Retention figures were drawn from 2003-04 enrollment numbers; graduation figures represent a six-year period beginning in the fall of 1998. Murray State and the University of Kentucky lead the state in graduation rates with 57.3 percent and 59.6 percent, respectively. Western Kentucky University is a distant third at 44.5 percent. Only the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville lead Murray in freshmen retention rates. According to Dr. F. King Alexander, MSU president, “both at the federal and state governmental levels, university graduation and retention rates will continue to be increasingly viewed as an institutional performance issue. What these data indicate for Murray State is that our graduation performance places us among the best universities in the nation. Since 1997, only seven of 628 other public universities have increased their graduation rates more than Murray State.” The CPE graduation rates differ slightly from the earlier released national figures annually submitted to the National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS) due to specific formulaic variations. Generally, the IPEDS graduation rates are a bit lower than the CPE figures. For example, Murray State’s most recent 2003-04 IPEDS graduation rate was 56.5 percent. Despite being a relatively small public university ranking sixth in enrollment in Kentucky, Murray State is graduating more students than many larger state schools in Kentucky. For example, last spring Murray State graduated more students than all but three of Kentucky’s public universities. Alexander notes “that since the higher education reform began in 1998, Murray State has accounted for one-third of all of the state’s new university graduates.” The university’s 2002-03 six-year graduation rate was 56.1, which beat the national six-year graduation rate average for public universities by four percentage points. Recently, a national study team visited Murray State as one of only 12 selected public universities in the nation to determine why MSU has achieved such high graduation rate success. The evaluation team’s report will be published nationally and submitted to Congress later this year. The university offers a broad range of retention efforts that address potential problems that students may encounter along the way and that help to pave the way to graduation. Faculty and administrators at Murray State provide a supportive and encouraging climate for students, both in and out of the classroom. The university has several programs in place to aid student success on campus including a residential colleges system, reports that let students know at a glance where they are in their degree requirements, and challenging academics. According to Alexander, “improving an institution’s graduation rate is a campus-wide effort that involves all of MSU’s faculty and staff. It requires a great deal of attention to many macro and micro details that most universities do not consider.” The CPE plans to work with Kentucky’s state institutions over the next several months in the development of recommendations for new key indicators of progress and goals that will support the state’s higher education mission through 2010.