Not everyone who starts college finishes on time.We ranked the top schools on U.S. News & World Report's 2019 Best National Universities and Best National Liberal Arts Colleges lists by the share of students who did not complete their degrees within six years of starting college.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.Not everyone who starts college finishes on time.We took the top 50 schools on U.S. News & World Report's 2019 Best National Universities and Best National Liberal Arts Colleges lists and found the share of first-time, full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students who completed a four-year degree within six years for each school using data from the US Department of Education.The group of students used in this analysis started college during the 2011-2012 school year, six years before the 2017-2018 year, the most recent year for which data was available.We ranked the top-rated schools by the share of that group that did not complete a degree at the school within six years. That share includes students who withdrew, transferred to other schools, or did not finish within six years for some other reason.Here are the 20 highly rated colleges and universities with the lowest six-year graduation rates:20.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: 15.0% of students did not graduate within six years.University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 46th among national universitiesLocation: Champaign, Illinois18. University of California – Irvine: 15.1% of students did not graduate within six years.Wikimedia CommonsU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 33rd among national universitiesLocation: Irvine, California18.
Pepperdine University: 15.1% of students did not graduate within six years.Shutterstock.comU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 46th among national universitiesLocation: Malibu, California17. Connecticut College: 15.2% of students did not graduate within six years.Connecticut College/FacebookU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 46th among national liberal arts collegesLocation: New London, Connecticut16.
University of California – San Diego: 15.5% of students did not graduate within six years.Via Wikimedia CommonsU.S. News & World Report rank: 41st among national universitiesLocation: La Jolla, California15. Occidental College: 15.6% of students did not graduate within six years.Wikipedia; Shayanne Gal/Business InsiderU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 39th among national liberal arts collegesLocation: Los Angeles, California14.
Gettysburg College: 16.4% of students did not graduate within six years.Gettysburg College/FacebookU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 49th among national liberal arts collegesLocation: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania13. New York University: 16.5% of students did not graduate within six years.Via Wikimedia CommonsU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 30th among national universitiesLocation: New York, New York12.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: 16.6% of students did not graduate within six years.Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/FacebookU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 49th among national universitiesLocation: Troy, New York11. Bryn Mawr College: 16.6% of students did not graduate within six years.Bryn Mawr CollegeU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 27th among national liberal arts collegesLocation: Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania10.
Tulane University: 16.6% of students did not graduate within six years.Fotoluminate LLC/ShutterstockU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 44th among national universitiesLocation: New Orleans, Louisiana9. Pitzer College: 16.9% of students did not graduate within six years.Pitzer College/FacebookU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 41st among national liberal arts collegesLocation: Claremont, California8.
University of Texas at Austin: 17.2% of students did not graduate within six years.Jon Herskovitz/ReutersU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 49th among national universitiesLocation: Austin, Texas7. Case Western Reserve University: 17.4% of students did not graduate within six years.Facebook/CWRUSOMU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 42nd among national universitiesLocation: Cleveland, Ohio6.
Centre College: 17.7% of students did not graduate within six years.WikipediaU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 46th among national liberal arts collegesLocation: Danville, Kentucky5. University of California – Santa Barbara: 18.5% of students did not graduate within six years.Via Wikimedia CommonsU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 30th among national universitiesLocation: Santa Barbara, California4.
Trinity College: 19.0% of students did not graduate within six years.Benjamin Carmichael/FlickrU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 46th among national liberal arts collegesLocation: Hartford, Connecticut3. Thomas Aquinas College: 20.7% of students did not graduate within six years.Wikimedia CommonsU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 43rd among national liberal arts collegesLocation: Santa Paula, California2.
United States Air Force Academy: 22.4% of students did not graduate within six years.Wikimedia CommonsU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 30th among national liberal arts collegesLocation: USAF Academy, Colorado1. Sewanee-University of the South: 22.7% of students did not graduate within six years.SewaneeU.S. News & World Report rank: Tied for 49th among national liberal arts collegesLocation: Sewanee, TennesseencG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufony1u89mqZqmm5qxbsHSZpqopJyatKa%2FjJqlnWWlo7a3sdGsoK2hlah6uLXToWSlp6ditLOtw66YraGfo3qzrdOeqmZqYGaGboI%3D