Arizona’s college graduation rate is lowest in nation

WASHINGTON – Arizona tied Alaska for the lowest college completion rate in the country in 2013, with just 29 percent of students able to earn a four-year degree in six years or less, a new report says.

The report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Education also said Arizona posted the highest student loan default rate in the country, at 18 percent, compared with a national average of 11 percent.

State education officials cautioned Monday that the statistics could be skewed by large numbers of students in other states who are getting degrees online from for-profit schools based in Arizona.

But U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday that states with higher default rates tend to have lower graduation rates and that the problem has to be addressed. Just as the cost of college is higher than ever, he said, a post-secondary credential has never been more important.

RELATED:Arizona tops nation in college cuts, tuition hikes

Schools should offer a “meaningful, high-quality degree” at an affordable rate, Duncan said in a conference call to discuss the numbers, “and for many students, our colleges are doing just that.”

“But for many more,” he said, schools are too costly, burying students deep in debt and offering mediocre degrees.

Arizona’s completion rate was well below the national average of 55 percent. But a closer look at the numbers shows the state’s public and private colleges posted completion rates above 50 percent, while for-profit schools in the state had a completion rate of 23 percent in 2013, below their peers nationally.

Arizona’s public college completion rate of 57 percent was 2 percentage points higher than the national public college average. And the numbers continue to improve, an Arizona Board of Regents spokeswoman said.

“Our most current data is actually 59.8 percent” for the 2014-15 completion rate, spokeswoman Sarah Harper said. “It’s a number that, on a pretty consistent level, is growing.”

She said the board, which oversees Arizona’s three public universities, thinks the schools are on track to meet a 2020 graduation target of 65.6 percent.

The state’s private schools had a completion rate of 52 percent, compared with 64 percent for private schools nationally, the report said.

LEARN MORE ABOUT ARIZONA'S 2015 GRADUATING CLASS

Arizona’s for-profit post-secondary schools had a 23 percent completion rate, compared with 32 percent nationally.

In terms of student default rates, Arizona schools were on par with their national counterparts. The default rate for public schools in the state and nationally was 9 percent; at for-profit schools, it was 19 percent on the state and national level. Private schools in Arizona outperformed the national average, 5 percent to 7 percent.

But combined, the state’s default rate was 18 percent compared with a national average of 11 percent. The disparity seemed to support the idea that large numbers of students at for-profit colleges could be bringing up the average.

Harper said the Board of Regents does not keep data on private and for-profit institutions in the state, but she added that it is important to remember that Arizona data include students in the state as well as online students, who could be anywhere.

A spokesman at for-profit Grand Canyon University said he could not speak for other schools in the state, but “as far as Grand Canyon University is concerned, we feel very good about where we are.”

“With nearly 15,000 students on our ground campus and 60,000 students online,” Grand Canyon is on track for about a 60 percent completion rate, spokesman Bob Romantic said in an e-mail. That’s “on par with most state universities,” he said.

Romantic said the department’s data look “back to 2008, when GCU was near bankruptcy and had less than 900 students on campus.”

“We are obviously a totally different institution” today, Romantic added.

He said GCU’s “three-year default rate is approximately 10 percent” and its “two-year rate is 6 percent,” well below the reported state rate of 19 percent at for-profits.

“Both of those are strong indicators and continue to get better as well,” Romantic said in his e-mail.

Duncan said there is also good news elsewhere, pointing to several “innovative institutions” setting an example of delivering quality degrees more affordably.

In a speech Monday at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Duncan cited that school’s increased minority enrollment in science and tech majors, and he pointed to Arizona State University’s boost in minority enrollment while awarding 60 percent more degrees than a decade ago.

“Real leadership and real strategy” can make a difference in higher education, but “states have to step up,” Duncan said in Monday’s conference call.

“Higher education is a public good,” and states need to promote it as such, he said. “It’s gaining momentum.”