MTSU President Says School Is Working To Improve Graduation Rates

Middle Tennessee State University is one of the schools which might lose some state dollars if funding is based on the number of students graduating, as Governor Phil Bredesen wants.

MTSU President Sidney McPhee says the school has improved but a better graduation rate will take some time.

McPhee presides over a student body of 25,000 at Murfreesboro. He says different schools have different challenges. At MTSU it’s students who often have to put education on hold because of family needs. Still, he says the school must do a better job of making sure students get their degrees.

“Our goal is to get that up to 60 percent in the next five years. Ideally, I think as an institution that has a lot of part-time students like MTSU can get a graduation rate in the next 10 years up to 65, 70 percent, I think that curve will be headed in the right direction.”

Middle Tennessee State University is the largest of the four-year schools under the state Board of Regents. State lawmakers were told that the average graduation rate for such four-year universities is 44 percent, including MTSU.

McPhee corrected the number, saying his school is actually at 54 percent.

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Currently state funding to such schools is weighted heavily in favor of what Governor Bredesen calls “warm bodies” enrolled in the fall semester. The governor wants to emphasize the graduation rate instead.

McPhee made a point to correct graduation rate listed for lawmakers but noted that current rate still isn’t what it should be.

“Our graduation rate has increased over the last five years to about 54 percent, including students who start at MTSU, complete at MTSU, and those who continue on at other institutions. Even with that, though, it is not high enough. We are not satisfied, or pleased, and the last several years we have worked very hard at our institution to develop strategies to increase that.”

“We have a lot of students who work 40 and 60 hours, and have families, and you know have the type of demographics that for many, in many cases, they have to ‘stop out’ for a semester or two, to take care of family needs, we still think that as a major comprehensive university, we need to work to increase that graduation rate.”

The status of the governor’s bill can be found here.