What is Student Right-To-Know?
Student Right-To-Know is a federal law that requires all colleges and universities to disclose certain information to students. This handout provides the information that a college must provide to students on graduation rates and transfer-out rates for full-time students seeking degrees at Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC).
What is the graduation rate and what is the transfer-out rate?
Federal regulations specify how to calculate the graduation and transfer rates. The rates come from a study of Rochester Community and Technical College students who started at the college in the fall of 2020. The study includes all first-time students who enrolled full-time that fall and were seeking to earn a degree, diploma, or certificate at the college. The graduation rate is the percentage of these students who graduated from RCTC within three years. The transfer-out rate is the percentage of these students who did not graduate from RCTC, but instead transferred to another college or university within three years.
What do I need to know about these rates?
These rates do not report on all students at Rochester Community and Technical College. The 583 first-time, full-time students in the study were 11 percent of all students enrolled at RCTC in fall of 2020.
What are the graduation and transfer-out rates for Rochester students and how do they compare to rates for other colleges?
- The graduation rate for RCTC was 26%.
- The transfer-out rate for RCTC was 26%.
- The combination of the graduation rate and the transfer-out rate for RCTC was 52%. The national average combined rate for similar colleges was 48%.
Why don’t more Rochester students graduate or transfer in three years?
- Since RCTC has an “open door” mission, many new students need to take developmental courses to improve their reading, writing, or math skills before taking other college courses;
- Students who switch from full-time to part-time enrollment or “stop out” for one or more semesters are more likely to take more than three years to graduate;
- Some students take jobs before they graduate;
- Other students delay their education for personal, family, or financial reasons.
| Disaggregated Student Right-To-Know Graduation and Transfer-Out Rates – 150% of Normal Time | |||
| Rochester Community and Technical College | Graduation Rate | Transfer-out Rate | Combined Rate |
| Total Cohort | 26% | 26% | 52% |
| Gender | |||
| Men | 27% | 27% | 54% |
| Women | 25% | 24% | 49% |
| Race/Ethnicity | |||
| Hispanic of any race | 9% | 29% | 38% |
| American Indian or Alaska Native | * | * | * |
| Asian | 20% | 24% | 44% |
| Black or African American | 9% | 43% | 52% |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | * | * | * |
| White | 34% | 22% | 56% |
| Two or more races | 26% | 17% | 43% |
| Nonresident Alien | * | * | * |
| Race and ethnicity unknown | * | * | * |
| Notes: | |||
| Students of Color Include: Hispanic/Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Two or more races students | |||
| * Suppressed to protect student privacy. Due to rounding, percentages may not always appear to add up. | |||
| Financial Aid | Graduation Rate | Transfer-Out Rate | Combined Rate |
| Pell Grant Recipient | 23% | 26% | 49% |
| Received neither Pell nor Subsidized Stafford Loans | 28% | 27% | 55% |
| Received Subsidized Direct Loans, but no Pell | 31% | 19% | 50% |
Prepared by: RCTC Institutional Research