Student Right to Know
Southwest Minnesota State University
Student Right-To-Know Graduation and Transfer-Out Rates
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 university must provide to students on graduation rates and transfer-out rates for full-time students seeking degrees at Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU).
What is a graduation rate, and what is a transfer-out rate?
Federal regulations specify how to calculate the graduation and transfer rates. The rates come from a study of SMSU students who started at the university in the fall of 2018. The study includes all first-time students who enrolled full-time that fall and were seeking to earn a degree at the university. The graduation rate is the percentage of these students who graduated from SMSU within six years. The transfer-out rate is the percentage of these students who did not graduate from SMSU, but instead transferred to another college or university within six years.
What do I need to know about these rates?
These rates do not report on all students at Southwest Minnesota State University. The 337 first-time, full-time students in the study were 5 percent of all undergraduate students enrolled in the fall of 2018.
What are the graduation and transfer-out rates for Southwest Minnesota State University students, and how do they compare to rates for other universities?
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The graduation rate for SMSU was 45 percent.
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The transfer-out rate for SMSU was 36 percent.
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The combination of the graduation rate and the transfer-out rate was 82 percent. The national average combined rate for similar universities was 73 percent.
Why don’t more Southwest Minnesota State University students graduate or transfer in six years?
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Some students take jobs before they graduate.
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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 six years to graduate;
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Other students delay their education for personal, family or financial reasons.
|
Southwest Minnesota State University |
Graduation Rate |
Transfer-out Rate |
Combined Rate |
|
|
Total Cohort |
45% |
36% |
82% |
|
|
|
||||
| Race Ethnicity | ||||
|
American Indian or Alaska Native |
* |
* |
* |
|
|
Asian |
* |
* |
* |
|
|
Black or African American |
24% |
61% |
85% |
|
|
Hispanic of any race |
25% |
46% |
71% |
|
|
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander |
* |
* |
* |
|
|
Two or more races |
29% |
52% |
81% |
|
|
U.S. Nonresident |
* |
* |
* |
|
|
Unknown race and ethnicity |
* |
* |
* |
|
|
White |
54% |
30% |
84% |
|
|
|
||||
| Gender | ||||
|
Female |
51% |
33% |
84% |
|
|
Male |
38% |
41% |
78% |
|
|
|
||||
| Financial Aid | ||||
|
Pell Grant Recipient |
35% |
44% |
80% |
|
|
Received neither Pell nor Subsidized Stafford Loans |
61% |
25% |
86% |
|
|
Received Subsidized Stafford Loans, but no Pell |
42% |
38% |
80% |
|
* Suppressed to protect student privacy.
Due to rounding, percentages may not always appear to add up.
Last Modified: 6/26/25 7:31 AM | Website Feedback