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 College students who started at the college in the Fall 2022. The study includes all first-time students who enrolled full-time that fall and were seeking to earn a degree at the college. The graduation rate is the percentage of these students who graduated from the college within three years. The transfer-out rate is the percentage of these students who did not graduate from the college, 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 College. The 463 first-time, full-time students in the study were 13 percent of all undergraduate students enrolled in Fall 2022.

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 College was 57 percent.
• The transfer-out rate for Ridgewater College was 11 percent.
• The combination of the graduation rate and the transfer-out rate was 69 percent. The national average combined rate for similar colleges was 51 percent.

Why don’t more Ridgewater students graduate or transfer in three years?

• Some students take jobs before they graduate;
• 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;
• Other students delay their education for personal, family or financial reasons.