Aid grows on-time Indiana college graduates, study shows

The report shows that during the 2012-13 academic year, 47.2 percent of 21st Century Scholar students enrolled in at least 30 credit hours as freshmen in four-year colleges, compared to 71.4 percent during the 2014-15 academic year.

The report said that students who receive the Frank O’Bannon Grant, Indiana’s other financial aid program, which faced slightly less stringent requirements through the reform, increased by 12 percentage points at four-year colleges and 6.5 percentage points at two-year colleges in the same two-year period.

Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa Lubbers said there are several benefits to completing a bachelor’s degree in four years or less.

“Students who complete at least 15 credits a semester save money, are more likely to graduate, and enter the workforce sooner,” Lubbers said in a release. “Double-digit gains in the numbers of students meeting the 30-credit-hour benchmark for on-time completion demonstrate the ongoing positive results of 2013’s financial aid reform as well as the benefit of aligning state funding to Indiana’s goals for higher education attainment.”

The Indiana Commission for Higher Education estimates every additional year students spend in college costs them at least $50,000 in tuition, fees and lost wages.

Project Leadership Director Tammy Pearson said graduating on time means students will be entering the workforce sooner rather than later.

“Graduating on time means our students are entering workforce in a more timely way,” she said. “So they are not only incurring less debt, but they are actually getting to add to their bank accounts by beginning in the workforce within that four-year period.”

Pearson said Project Leadership spends the majority of its time discussing ways to better support students on the second half of the mission to college success.

“Looking at that main headline by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education is very welcomed news,” Pearson said. “Because there has been a standard set, our students are rising up to meet it. I’m very happy to see that students are responding to this and that it’s beginning to work.”

Pearson said there are growing opportunities for students to get a head start on their college courses while still in high school to further help obtaining a bachelor’s degree within four years.

“Students one decade ago, or even 5 years ago, may not have had the opportunity to be able to take what are essentially college courses while still in high school,” she said. “It goes to prove our local high school teachers are more than up to the task with working more with our students academically to help them achieve college credits.”

Tim Nace, associate vice president of financial aid at Taylor University, said just over 50 percent of last fall’s entering class brought in some credit hours (AP, CLEP, dual credit) from high school, with the latest statistics indicating Taylor students are finishing a four-year degree in roughly 3.8 years.

Chancellor Andy Bowne of Ivy Tech Community College East Central Region said there are not only financial incentives for students to graduate on time, but there are also benefits for the higher education institutions.

“We are on a performance funding model and there is a finite pool of dollars intended to provide incentives for higher education institutions,” Bowne said. “Statewide they want to see graduation completion, but there is also additional funding for on-time completion.”

According to the commission for higher education, the Indiana General Assembly enacted additional college financial aid reforms during the 2016 legislative session. The changes create a smoother path back to financial aid eligibility for students who fail to meet the 30-credit-hour requirement for one year but work to get back on track the next.

The report included that further investigation will be necessary to identify whether the impact of the policy varies by geographic region, campus type, student preparedness level or demographics.