Indiana’s college graduation rate is up, but most students still don't finish on time

Nearly half of Indiana college students graduated on time in 2023, a small increase in the number of Hoosiers who successfully earn degrees.

The state has made modest improvements for several years, and the rate is now 7 percentage points higher than it was five years ago, according to newly released data from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

"I credit to a great degree the institutions of higher education and commission,” said Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Chris Lowery at a commission meeting Thursday. “It's been a keen focus. It continues to be a keen focus.”

The gain in completion rates is good news for a state that is grappling with a decline in the number of high school graduates enrolling in college. Improving outcomes for students who do enroll is another way Indiana can educate more young people.

Community colleges have seen particular improvement in completion rates. About 24 percent of students who started in 2021 got degrees within two years. That’s a huge jump from a decade earlier when less than 5 percent of Indiana community college students graduated on time.

But the majority of the state’s public college students still don’t graduate on time. And completion rates are lower for students from low-income families, men, and Black and Hispanic students.

Lowery said that low graduation rates among some student groups are "one of the things that keeps me awake.”

The graduation rate was lower at regional campuses, where just 30 percent of students finished on time.

At both two- and four-year colleges, significantly more students graduate within six years. At community colleges, nearly half graduated over that extended time. And at four-year colleges, the completion rate reached 73 percent.

Contact WFYI education reporter Dylan Peers McCoy at dmccoy@wfyi.org.