Right to Know
What is Student Right-To-Know?
Student Right-To-Know is a federal law that requires all colleges and universities to disclose certain information to students. This handout provides the information that a college must provide to students on graduation rates and transfer-out rates for full-time students seeking degrees at Ridgewater College.
What is a graduation rate and what is a transfer-out rate?
Federal regulations specify how to calculate the graduation and transfer rates. The rates come from a study of Ridgewater students who started at the college in the fall of 2020. The study includes all first-time students who enrolled full-time that fall and were seeking to earn a degree, diploma or certificate at the college. The graduation rate is the percentage of these students who graduated from Ridgewater within three years. The transfer-out rate is the percentage of these students who did not graduate from Ridgewater, but instead transferred to another college or university within three years.
What do I need to know about these rates?
These rates do not report on all students at Ridgewater. The 383 first-time, full-time students in the study were 12 percent of all students enrolled at Ridgewater in fall of 2020.
What are the graduation and transfer-out rates for Ridgewater students and how do they compare to rates for other colleges?
- The graduation rate for Ridgewater was 45 percent.
- The transfer-out rate for Ridgewater was 10 percent.
- The combination of the graduation rate and the transfer-out rate for Ridgewater was 55percent. The national average combined rate for similar colleges was 48percent.
Why don’t more Ridgewater students graduate or transfer in three years?
- Since Ridgewater has an “open door” mission, many new students need to take “developmental” courses to improve their reading, writing or math skills before taking other college courses;
- Students who switch from full-time to part-time enrollment or “stop out” for one or more semesters are more likely to take more than three years to graduate;
- Some students take jobs before they graduate;
- Other students delay their education for personal, family or financial reasons.
Graduation and Transfer-Out Rates - Total
| Graduation Rate | Transfer-out Rate | Combined Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Cohort | 45% | 10% | 55% |
Graduation and Transfer-Out Rates - race
| Graduation Rate | Transfer-out Rate | Combined Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Indian or Alaska Native | * | * | * |
| Asian | * | * | * |
| Black or African American | * | * | * |
| Hispanic of any race | 29% | 13% | 42% |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | * | * | * |
| Nonresident Alien | * | * | * |
| Two or more races | * | * | * |
| Unkown race and ethnicity | * | * | * |
| White | 49% | 10% | 60% |
Graduation and Transfer-Out Rates - Gender
| Graduation Rate | Transfer-out Rate | Combined Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 48% | 10% | 58% |
| Male | 42% | 9% | 51% |
Graduation and Transfer-Out Rates - Financial Aid
| Graduation Rate | Transfer-out Rate | Combined Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pell Grant Recipient | 37% | 9% | 46% |
| Received neither Pell nor Subsidized Stafford Loans | 54% | 9% | 63% |
| Received Subsidized Stafford Loans, but no Pell | 33% | 15% | 49% |
*Suppressed to protect student privacy.
Due to rounding, percentages may not always appear to add up.
