David Jesse

Detroit Free Press

The bulk of Michigan's public universities are "dropout factories" a new report charges, much to the consternation of those universities, who say the report is flawed from its first sentence.

The report, issued by Third Way, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., says that if Michigan's 15 public universities were judged by the same criteria as K-12 schools, 12 of them would be labeled as dropout factories that fail to graduate fewer than two-thirds of their students. The report also says a student entering a Michigan public university has only a one in two shot of graduating. That's because the average six-year graduation rate is 52.28%.

The report also says one-third of students make less than $25,000 six years after graduation.

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Third Way singles out Oakland University and Wayne State University as particularly poor performers. It says Oakland has a 43% graduation rate for first-time, full-time students within six years and more than one-third of students aren't making more than $25,000 (what a typical high school graduate earns) six years from graduation.

The report is taking heat from universities, both in Michigan and across the nation. Their arguments are simple -- it only looks at a subset of students -- first-year, full-time students with federal loans -- and uses data that doesn't really reflect a student's experience of going to school.

"This report really misrepresents Oakland University," said Susan Awbrey, senior associate provost at the Auburn Hills school. "To us, this is just sensationalist."

What the report does do -- even the universities acknowledge this -- is showcase the difficulty in trying to determine if a university is doing a good job at educating students.

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A big part of the problem lies in how people attend college -- voluntarily. Students can pick the school they go to and when they want to go. It's possible to finish a bachelor's degree in three years, or take 10.

"Universities are really complex in how they interact with individual students," said Laura Schartman, director of OU's Office of Institutional Research and Assessment. "There is really no clean rankings of universities. The question for students and parents to ask is, 'knowing what I know about this university, will it work for me?"

Getting discussions about more than just the cost is the point of the report, said Tamara Hiler, one of the authors, especially as Hillary Clinton talks about free college plans during her presidential run. Donald Trump is expected to roll out his education plans in coming weeks.

"We want to shift the conversation from one of just cost to one of value," she said.

And in Michigan? "What you can clearly see is a range of institutions in the state," she said.

That's also the case across the nation.

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"Of the 535 four-year public colleges and universities for which data was available, we found that nearly 6 in 10 are failing to graduate a majority of their first-time, full-time students, dimming prospects for their future economic success," the report says. "In addition, our results reveal that there is a wide divergence of quality in our public institutions, with the students who need higher education as an engine of mobility the most often concentrated at schools with the worst outcomes."

The think tank recognizes the limitations of the data, Hiler said, but added it does provide a good look at schools for those who intend to start and finish at the same school.

But more and more folks aren't doing that, said Monica Brockmeyer, associate provost for student success at Wayne State. The report calls out the Detroit school for having a graduation rate for students within six years of only 30%.

Brockmeyer took exception with that number, saying Wayne State's graduation rate over six years is actually 35%, which is up 9% in the past four years.

But anyone evaluating Wayne State should look at how all students are doing, she said. On top of the 35% graduating in six years from Wayne State, another 7% have transferred and graduated within six years and 28% are still enrolled at either Wayne State or another college.

That returns to the broader question of how to best evaluate universities.

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"Accounting for the background of students is really important," Brockmeyer said. "None of these measures really do it."

For example, a working student might take 10 years to get through school -- taking a full-time load one semester and only one class the next. Even if that student eventually graduates, he or she counts as a dropout.

"I'd never say our universities can't improve," said Daniel Hurley, CEO of the Michigan Association of State Universities. "As a collective, we can go head-to-head with anyone. What this report doesn't do is take into account the varying missions of our universities. This is negligent policy advocacy. It paints the entire public four-year sector as a dropout factory. That's not the case."

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @reporterdavidj.