Graduation rates at Nicholls have increased, but instead of students graduating in four years, six years seems to be average.”The six-year graduation rate has come to be the standard by which all students are measured. At one time, when I was in school, it was quite common for students to typically graduate in four years,” Carroll Falcon, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said. “More and more, as students take on jobs and so forth, it became more common for students to take five years to graduate. Now we’re finding that it’s taking students six years to graduate.”

According to “Closing the Achievement Gap” report by the Education Trust, the number of students at Nicholls graduating within six years increased from 22.5 percent to 27.8 percent. The report compared 1997 to 2003 six-year graduation rates for every American university.

Even though students are taking longer to graduate, the increase in students graduating in six years improved Nicholls’ rankings. Nicholls is nationally ranked No. 17 in the course of 50 similar universities.

“One of the most important things in improving graduation rates is improving the retention of the students. You can’t graduate students if you can’t retain them,” Falcon said. “Another reason why we’re improving is because we’re getting better prepared students. We haven’t seen the benefits of those students yet, in terms of graduation, but we expect to see an impact in another four years.”

Selective admissions will also help Nicholls retain students, Falcon said. The student must have either an ACT score of at least 20, a GPA of at least 2.0 or be in the top 50 percent of his or her class to be accepted.

Better advising and better support services, according to Falcon, will help retain students at Nicholls, which will lead to better graduation rates.

“All of this is what we’re working for through University College,” Falcon said.

University College offers courses emphasizing study skills, self-awareness, inter-personal relationships, orientation, career awareness, personal values and critical thinking. The mission of University College is to introduce students to the University through personal development services, including programs that prepare students to enter senior academic colleges.