The cost of higher education continues to climb, while calls for increased institutional accountability and the value of a "four-year degree" are ever present. This research sought to identify factors by which consumers might predict four-year graduation rates at institutions within the CCCU. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis of data…

A pair of economists at the College of William and Mary have devised a new way of comparing colleges' graduation rates--a method, borrowed from business analysis, that they believe is fairer and more useful than the techniques used by "U.S. News & World Report" and the Education Trust. That general technique of regression analysis underlies the…