Miami students beat their peers in the race to graduation

Miami University's four-year graduation rate ranks 10th in a list of public colleges and universities in the U.S. Using statistics provided by the federal education database IPEDS, the list evaluates the graduation rates of all public universities for 2009.

Miami’s four-year rate is 67 percent, compared to the national average of just 37 percent. Miami is the only public institution in the state of Ohio among the top ten.

Ohio University ranks 26th on the list with 48 percent, and the Ohio State University ties for 34th with 40 percent of its students graduating in four years.

A Chronicle of Higher Education analysis showed the median six-year graduation rate among four-year colleges to be about 53 percent in 2008. Miami’s six-year graduation rate that year was 80 percent, making it seventh best among publics. The national standard has been to compare six-year graduation rates, but with cost a factor, more attention may be paid to four-year rates.

The top five schools for four-year graduation rate in 2009 are the College of William and Mary, University of Virginia (main campus), the United States Naval, Military and Coast Guard academies.

The rankings, which were first noted by a CBS MoneyWatch correspondent, favor schools that serve conventional, full-time students.

Universities will report their 2010 graduation rates in April.