Graduation rates for Michigan State University students have increased for the sixth year in a row, officials said.
Graduation rates for first-time, full-time students entering MSU in 2014 increased from 80.7% last year to 81.3% this year, according to a university news release. Rates for students identifying as Hispanic/Latinx increased by 3%, for Asian students by 7% and Black students by 2%, the release states.
The graduation rate for international students increased from 79% last year to 81%, and the rate for out-of-state students increased from 73% to 76%.
“Successful student graduation represents the transformative effect of higher education and validates the efforts of our community of faculty, staff, administrators, alumni and donors,” MSU President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. said in a statement. “Seeing rates increase, particularly in underrepresented populations, is consistent with our goal of providing education access to all students at MSU.”
MSU has a number of campaigns directed at promoting student success, including its Neighborhoods program that brings academic, health and other support services directly to campus residential buildings. The university also encourages students to take 15 credits or more each semester, which helps students graduate in four years, according to the release.
The university also reinstates its two-year, on-campus living requirement for students starting in fall 2021. Undergraduate students who live on campus for their first two years at MSU have a 2.5% better chance of graduating than those who live on campus only in their first year, according to an analysis by MSU’s Office of Institutional Research.
