Student Right to Know:
Program Completion

For up to date information on SCC graduation rates, or to view the latest figures for state support of higher education students, please visit the CCS Right to Know website.

In compliance with the federal Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-542), Spokane Community College (SCC) is reporting completion/graduation and transfer-out rates for a select group of students who entered the college in fall 1996. The study identifies the percentages who had completed their programs or transferred by August 31, 1999.

The study group, as specified by federal law, includes only students who were:

• enrolled in credit classes full time (registered for 12 or more credits fall 1996),
• entering any college for the first time (no previous college experience anywhere), and
• seeking a degree or certificate or planning to attend SCC for at least one full year and then transfer to a four-year college or university.

A similar limited group of students has been studied at every Washington community and technical college.

"Completion" includes those who completed and received an academic or professional technical degree or certificate.

"Transfer" students enrolled in another college or university without completing a program at Spokane Community College.

29 percent of the SCC students in the study completed a degree or certificate during the three-year period from fall 1996 to fall 1999. (Washington state community and technical college average completion rate was 27%.) During the same three-year period, 19 percent of the SCC students in the study enrolled in another postsecondary institution without first attaining a degree or certificate from SCC. (Washington state community college average transfer rate for non-completers was 21%.) Notice that students who complete a degree at SCC and then enroll in another college or university may only be counted as "completers," not as "transfers."

Because of the strict federal parameters, the study group includes less than 6% of the total student body at SCC, and less than 20% of the students who entered SCC in fall 1996. The group does not include any of the students who attended part time that fall, or who enrolled full time but had previous college experience, or who enrolled in summer orientation sessions only prior to that fall. Also excluded are students who attended to upgrade job skills, gain new job skills, improve basic skills, maintain licenses, complete credits for high school, formulate career interests, and/or for intellectual or cultural enrichment but with no intent to earn a degree.

These rates don't take into account students who started full time but later enrolled part time because of work or family commitments. They don't recognize that many community college students may take a quarter or more off from school because of other demands.

These rates do not represent the success rates of the entire student population at Spokane Community College, nor do they account for student outcomes occurring after this three-year tracking period.