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N.H. Colleges Have Near Best In Nation Graduation Rates - As Long As You're A Traditional Student

Jim Graham
/
Flicker CC

The headline of this year’s graduation report from the National Student Clearinghouse is that 78 percent of students who start out in traditional 4-year public institutions in New Hampshire wind up graduating within six years.

That’s higher than any state in the country except for Iowa.

Private schools do nearly as well, with 75 percent graduating.

But while colleges in the Granite State are serving most students well, they struggle when it comes to non-traditional students. At public schools, only 45 percent of students who are older than 24 graduate, and part-time students fare even worse, with only 15 percent completing in six years.

At both private and public schools, these students succeed at rates lower than the national average.

What’s more the report finds that nearly 10 percent of students who start their degrees at a New Hampshire college wind up finishing at an out-of-state school. Only three states – Vermont, Maryland and North Dakota – have more out-of-state transfers than New Hampshire.

Sam Evans-Brown has been working for New Hampshire Public Radio since 2010, when he began as a freelancer. He shifted gears in 2016 and began producing Outside/In, a podcast and radio show about “the natural world and how we use it.” His work has won him several awards, including two regional Edward R. Murrow awards, one national Murrow, and the Overseas Press Club of America's award for best environmental reporting in any medium. He studied Politics and Spanish at Bates College, and before reporting was variously employed as a Spanish teacher, farmer, bicycle mechanic, ski coach, research assistant, a wilderness trip leader and a technical supporter.
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