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SALISBURY, MD---For the 16th consecutive year, Salisbury University has the highest four-year graduation rate in the University System of Maryland. ³ÉÈ˶¶Òõalso boasts the System’s highest five-year graduation rate for the 11th consecutive year and the highest six-year graduation rate for the eighth straight year.

 

According to Bryan Price, director of institutional research, 48 percent of students starting as freshmen at Salisbury in fall 1999 are graduating this semester. That number eclipses the national average of 34.2 percent in 2001, the most recent national average calculated by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

 

The second-highest four-year USM graduate rate this semester is at the University of Maryland College Park, which stands at 42 percent.

 

SU’s six-year graduation rate, at 70.8 percent, is up nearly 20 percent from 1981. That is 15.5 percentage points higher than the 2001 national average of 55.3 percent, according to the NCES Web site.

 

Additionally, ³ÉÈ˶¶Òõhas the third highest six-year graduation rate among African Americans in the USM this semester, at 54 percent.

 

Price attributed these successes to several factors, including SU’s advising program.

 

“We have a specialist approach to advising, with our faculty giving advice to students in each academic program,” he said.

 

Graduation rates also remain high at ³ÉÈ˶¶Òõdue to high student retention, he said.

 

“Students who are attracted to Salisbury University are a good match,” Price said. “They choose to stay here.”

 

Other factors responsible for SU’s success include its small-school feel, small classes, approachable professors and good value, he added.

 

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the ³ÉÈ˶¶ÒõWeb site at www.salisbury.edu.