The University of Texas at Austin is one of the nation’s top research universities. But you wouldn’t know it from the school’s four-year graduation rate.
Just 53 percent of 2004 freshmen graduated four years later, according to the latest data from the federal government. The graduation rate jumps to 80 percent by year six. Six seems to be the magic number: UT’s grad rate improves only a few more points by eight years. All good things, as they say, must come to an end.
UT is one of many public universities where students tend to hang around. It’s set, after all, in Austin, one of the great college towns. Tuition is relatively low, living expenses modest, and many fifth- and sixth-year students can think of no earthly reason to leave. (For further study, consult the seminal Gen-X movie Slacker.)
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