College graduations, including those this weekend at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, provide a backdrop for a nagging challenge for the state's institutions of higher learning.
More than 4,200 students collected degrees at the UA over a two-day period, culminating years of study on their separate paths to graduation.
How long did it take for each to graduate?
And how long will it take for those who are enrolling for the first time in a four-year institution to walk the same path?
Recent data from the state Department of Higher Education answers the question for students who enrolled in one of the state's public institutions for the first time in fall 2009. Of the more than 15,000 students tracked, 23.6 percent graduated four years later while 39.7 percent graduated within six years.
The numbers reflected part of a continuing increase in the four-year graduation rate and a slight dip in the six-year rate in Arkansas' four-year colleges and universities.
State officials have long been trying to improve the college graduation rate in Arkansas, seeking to better educate the workforce here and to attract higher-paying jobs to the state.
The state has actively sought to increase the college-going rate as well.
It's all part of a long-term economic development strategy that would improve the standard of living in the state.
Brett Powell, director of the Arkansas Higher Education Department, explained recently how graduation rates matter to the state and for students.
Salary is the obvious difference for college-educated workers, he said, noting that wages increase with educational attainment.
As wages increase, so too does tax revenue to the state.
"We grow as a state," he said, "and as we grow as a state, there are more jobs that are available and the more need for education, and it's just a cycle that builds on itself."
Better graduation rates are a constant goal. Nevertheless, Arkansas ranks well below the national average.
The nationwide average, according to the U.S. Department of Education, was 59.6 percent for first-time, full-time students who began seeking bachelor's degrees at four-year institutions in the fall of 2007 and graduated with degrees six years later.
The Arkansas data doesn't exactly run parallel to those figures. It includes part-time students but nonetheless shows the gap Arkansas needs to overcome to compete with other states.
The statewide percentage of first-time students admitted in fall 2008 who had earned degrees six years later was 40 percent, according to state data.
Notably, the graduation rates differ among the 10 Arkansas public institutions of higher learning.
Three of the 10 public universities beat the state average while the others fell below.
The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville ranked highest with 61 percent of its students graduating within six years. Arkansas Tech University reported a 43.5 percent six-year graduation rate and the University of Central Arkansas a 43.1 percent rate.
Arkansas State University in Jonesboro followed at 34.8 percent with six-year graduation rates dropping as low as 23 percent at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
The others were Henderson State University with 33.6 percent, Southern Arkansas University with 33.2 percent, University of Arkansas at Monticello with 31 percent, University of Arkansas at Fort Smith with 28 percent and University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff with 24.3 percent.
The numbers of students graduating at each institution varied widely with the University of Arkansas having the largest number of students tracked (3,006) in any of the four-year institutions.
There are all sorts of reasons an individual student's college education may take longer than another's. They may be at "four-year" schools, but more students need more time than don't, if they are able to complete their educations at all.
Often the challenge has to do with the merger of student responsibilities with those of family.
Few students these days are free to take a full class load each semester, paid for by their parents or by scholarships.
Students, those who are married and supporting their own families and those who are not, often must work while they pursue their educations.
That may mean they take fewer hours each semester, stretching out the time needed to complete a degree.
Or they have some interruption that forces them to stop their schooling temporarily, like a layoff from work or a family emergency.
Or maybe courses they need for graduation aren't available when the student wants to take them. Or there's some other conflict they can't resolve to get them to graduation more quickly.
Sure, some party or fail to make their grades, but there are many more reasons that get in the way of completing degree work.
So, the state watches their progress and looks for ways the institutions can help students reach graduation.
Congratulations to those who made it this year and to those still reaching to achieve their goals.
Commentary on 05/15/2016