Time to Completion Project Overview

Time to Completion

As part of the College Productivity Initiative, Jobs for the Future developed the Time to Completion project. Many barriers that extend student time to completion can be addressed through improvements in policy and practice. States, systems, and institutions have begun to experiment with new ideas that hold real promise for promoting timely completion. Building on those experiments, Jobs for the Future’s Time to Completion project has two goals:

• Expanding what we know about time to completion through research and analysis; and
• Advocating for policies and practices leading to more timely completion for a greater number of students.

Background

To remain competitive in the evolving global economy, the United States must increase postsecondary credential attainment rates. The challenge is to improve the productivity of the U.S. higher education system so that more students graduate within existing resources.

However, the goal must be not just to increase attainment rates but to ensure that more students graduate in a timely manner. Extended time to completion–students accumulating excess credits and enrolling for additional semesters–is a critical barrier to increasing the productivity of U.S. higher education. Today, the achievement of an Associate’s degree within two years or a Bachelor’s degree within four years is no longer the norm.

Students are spending more time than ever to complete a postsecondary credential. Currently, fewer than half of first-time-in-college students who attend full time graduate with a Bachelor’s degree within four years. At the same time, many community college systems report that students are graduating with average credit accumulations far exceeding the state standard for an Associate’s degree. The average time to completion for a student who transfers to a Bachelor’s degree–granting institution from a community college is 16 months longer than a student who began at such an institution. Nontraditional students, including those who delayed initial enrollment, attend part-time to work while enrolled, or have a family, are the students least likely to complete a degree in five years.

As students extend their credential or degree paths, they accrue more debt and delay reaping their increased earning potential. By utilizing campus resources and accumulating excess credits, these students cost institutions more money than those who complete on time. In an era of diminishing resources and increasing enrollment demand, states and postsecondary systems need to explore new ways to move students more efficiently towards degree completion.

For more information, contact: Nancy Hoffman at JFF, nhoffman@jff.org, 617.728.4446