Pathways to Graduation

How do students get from start to finish on their path to graduation? At many traditional institutions of higher education, a majority of new students start directly out of high school and progress through their chosen major over the next four to six years, finally arriving at graduation day. At Boise State, like many other institutions, students do not always follow such a clear path.

This study identifies several paths that baccalaureate graduates took to reach graduation. The paths are defined by three points of differentiation:

• Native vs. Transfer
  • Did the graduate start at Boise State with fewer than 14 transfer credits, as a native student, or with 14 or more transfer credits, as a transfer student (as defined in this study)?
• Original vs. Switched to Plan
  • Did the graduate choose a plan upon arrival at Boise State and graduate with that original plan or did they switch to that plan?
• Graduated within Six Years vs. More than Six Years
  • Did the student graduate in six years or fewer (graduated within six years) or did their path take longer than six years (more than six years)? Within six years is defined as 150% of time to degree for federal IPEDS reporting. The elapsed time is measured from when the student was first enrolled as a bachelor degree-seeking undergraduate.