What % of people finish?

[natshar]

Obviously, I don't think anyone will know the exact number. 

But I know a lot of people come to this forum saying "I want to do this." But words and actions are two different things. I was wondering if anyone has an estimate of what percentage of people who joined this forum with the intent of earning a degree from the big 3/wgu actually go on to do so.

[vetvso]

I cannot say for sure but consider people who are continuing and completed into the same category. Most of the completed have left here but a few of us still remain. 10% - 20% but there is allot who use this site without ever creating an account or signing in. I used the site from 2007 - 2010 and I never signed in and forgot my credentials even. It wasn't until 2010 before I started asking questions so it very hard to estimate honestly. I used the information here to validate my emergency management training back in 2007 - 2008 and was overseas but still made time once per week to keep up on new information and ideas here.

[Merlin]

I have no idea how many complete the journey, but I bet the majority do not. 

I know this is my second round through this process. I started in 2011 but got sidetracked by life and had to put things on hold for 6 years or so. But, for me, second time was the charm.

[MNomadic]

Yeah lots of people never post or they finish and never post they're done. Sometimes people post initially with lofty goals about how they want to test out of an engineering degree in 6 months for $5k but then realize they can't.

[Life Long Learning]

Quick google:

Graduations Rates within six years after beginning their degree.

64.3% COSC
45.6% Excelsior College
41.9% TESU
Ref: College Factual

This makes sense to me. Take Excelsior College with 90% of students are military and or nurses almost all are working full time. Military times list Excelsior College as having an 87% military graduation or transfer rate. EC only has a 5% student default rate (this will come from the 60% non-military students). This is a part-time education gig for most.

The REAL question is why B&M colleges have such low graduation rates of FULL-TIME students?

[Merlin]

Quick google:

Graduations Rates within six years after beginning their degree.

64.3% COSC
45.6% Excelsior College
41.9% TESU
Ref: College Factual

This makes sense to me.  Take Excelsior College with 90% of students are military and or nurses almost all are working full time.  Military times list Excelsior College as having an 87% military graduation or transfer rate.  EC only has a 5% student default rate (this will come from the 60% non-military students).   This is a part-time education gig for most.  

The REAL question is why B&M colleges have such low graduation rates of FULL-TIME students?

That makes sense for the big 3 in general, but I'd argue that most of those graduates are probably taking a more traditional approach to their education. I think in this case we're more interested in how many students use what they learn here to go on to complete a degree. I can't think of an easy way to quantitatively measure that.

[natshar]

Yeah lots of people never post or they finish and never post they're done. Sometimes people post initially with lofty goals about how they want to test out of an engineering degree in 6 months for $5k but then realize they can't.

Yeah true. I know some people come to this forum would a lot of credit and are just a few classes away from a degree. But the people who come here with zero credit trying to earn a degree in sixth months from scratch I was more wondering about them. Yes it can be done but earning 120 credits in six months takes a lot of work and is not a an easy feat.

Im interested in this because I heard that in America only about half of all college freshman will graduate in six years. That's crazy!

And even people don't go through the big 3 or wgum Getting credit through Clep, Ace, nccrs, etc. can certainly help a students chance of graduating quickly at (almost) any University.

[MNomadic]

Btw, I used an engineering degree as an example because it is not possible to completely test out of that field from scratch, not cheap, and not quick. Absolutely there are many examples of people testing out of an entire degree from scratch in a short term though.

Example: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Transcript

Outside of the big 3, wgu, and a handful of other relatively flexible colleges, ACE and NCCRS are nearly worthless(besides ACE military transcripts, CLEP, AP and maybe DSST). This is slowly changing as many of the online providers put more focus on partnering with schools.

I definitely agree that CLEP and such are way underutilized as a way to speed up the degree and save money.

[natshar]

Btw, I used an engineering degree as an example because it is not possible to completely test out of that field from scratch, not cheap, and not quick. Absolutely there are many examples of people testing out of an entire degree from scratch in a short term though.

Example: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...Transcript

Outside of the big 3, wgu, and a handful of other relatively flexible colleges, ACE and NCCRS are nearly worthless(besides ACE military transcripts, CLEP, AP and maybe DSST). This is slowly changing as many of the online providers put more focus on partnering with schools.

I definitely agree that CLEP and such are way underutilized as a way to speed up the degree and save money.

Yeah I agree and I never said it wasnt possible. It just isn't easy, especially if you aren't willing to work for it

For sure, I used Clep to earn two associates degrees in two years. I only earned enough traditional in class credits for one degree, but when I found out the second degree only needed 15 additional credits, CLEP made it possible for me to earn two degrees in two years.

It all depends on the school honestly, some schools take ace, nccrs, it depends and you definitely have to do a lot of research and talking on the phone with people to make it work for you.

[Life Long Learning]

Im interested in this because I heard that in America only about half of all college freshman will graduate in six  years. That's crazy!

The 6-year graduation rate is 60% overall.  66 percent at private nonprofit institutions , 59 percent at public institutions, and 26 percent at private for-profit institutions.
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40