Week 6 blog on graduation rates

Over the last two weeks we have been discussing USI's graduation rate and how it compares to the tuition rate. As the class discussed USI's graduation rate, tuition price, and different opinions of the school my eyes were open to things that surprised me and made me rethink what I had heard or thought of the school before coming here.
I was shocked at how low the USI's graduation rate for both the 4 and 6 years. With only 16% of the 2003 class graduating after 4 years and only 37% graduating in less than 6 years I think USI needs to do something to improve these percentages. In class it was mentioned that the admission standards could be raised causing the students who attended USI to be more focused and interested in school. I think the rates could be improved by having high school prepare students better for college. Also I believe that if the class sizes were smaller and teachers at USI had the opportunity to spend more one on one time with students the rates would improve.
In class we discovered that when the tuition is higher the graduation rate is higher as well. I believe they are related in a way but just because the tuition is more doesn’t mean that the graduation rate will be higher. In my opinion most school with higher tuition are private schools and it has been my experience both when I was applying and deciding which school I was going to go to and when my older sister went to a private university that their staff will work more with students one on one to get them scholarships and answer questions. With those scholarships the price becomes close to what it costs to attend a state school. For example, I was between going to USI and UE and when it came to money they price to attend either school was the same maybe even with UE being slightly less than USI. In class it was mentioned that students will attend a less expensive school until they decide for sure what they want to study or to get there generals and that could affect the rates as well. To an extent I agree with this but do not think that is the major factor.
Before I came to USI I was unaware of these rates, how much of a party school this was, and that most individuals thought this was a cheap school to just get generals taken care of. These all shocked me. I thought USI was a university that had students come to it because they wanted to get their degree from them. I also was unaware that most considered this school a cheap place to get generals. Going to school here cost around $10,000 a semester and to me that is expensive. I consider a community college the place to get generals out of the way because you can go there for $2,000 to $3,000 a semester.
I believe that USI needs to worry less about having over 10,000 students and more about keeping them in school and graduating them in 4 to 6 years.