Longwood

[Anonymous]

I'm in stitches right now. I really am. Y'all are on here arguing that a school with virtually no poor students, average family incomes in six figures, and more than half the student body has family incomes in the top 20 percent is a school for the "underrepresented!"

LOLOLOL

Longwood's graduation rate is low because it accepts virtually all of its applicants and their high school GPAs and standardized test scores are mediocre. End of story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Less than half of the students graduate in four years and nearly a quarter don't even return for sophomore year.

What you mean is "fewer than half of the students..."

Right. Fewer than half. But unlike them, I actually graduated.

Where is your cite? I don’t believe you

Go to the College Navigator website. Look up Longwood University. Look at the tab for graduation and retention rates.

80% of full-time freshmen who started in fall 2023 returned for fall 2024.
48% of the full-time, first-time students starting in fall 2018 graduated in four years(spring 2022); 61% graduated in six years (spring 2024).
Keep in mind this spans the Covid years, so a good number may have taken a semester or two off, artificially reducing their four-year grad rate.

College Navigator has just been updated within the last few weeks with the most recent IPEDS data in this category.

So their graduation rate is above 50% lol as expected PP was full of $hit

Four year graduation rate is 48 percent. Last I checked, 48 is less than 50.

Colleges always cite the 6 year rate.

And? That doesn't mean the 4 year rate is over 50 percent.

Here are the 4 year rates:

https://research.schev.edu/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=gradrates.GRS04_Report

4 year rate is meaningless.

Then why does the Commonwealth of Virginia track it for all of its colleges? Why does US News report it? And why is it the goal of virtually every parent whose kid attends a decent college?

It’s a benchmark to see how students are progressing. What matters is that students do indeed finish, the 6 year rate helps with that.

Actually you have it backwards.

https://hechingerreport.org/how-the-college-lobby-got-the-government-to-measure-graduation-rates-over-six-years-instead-of-four/

4 years is an arbitrary number. Graduation rates seek to measure what percentage of a cohort graduates. 6 years takes into account kids that need to take time off for health issues or family emergencies.

Not true. Cite?

Financial constraints are a key driver in taking time off: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/retention/2024/08/13/academic-struggles-compel-many-students-leave-college

How does that generic cite relate to Longwood?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in stitches right now. I really am. Y'all are on here arguing that a school with virtually no poor students, average family incomes in six figures, and more than half the student body has family incomes in the top 20 percent is a school for the "underrepresented!"

LOLOLOL

Longwood's graduation rate is low because it accepts virtually all of its applicants and their high school GPAs and standardized test scores are mediocre. End of story.

Ever heard of first gen? Your privilege is showing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Less than half of the students graduate in four years and nearly a quarter don't even return for sophomore year.

What you mean is "fewer than half of the students..."

Right. Fewer than half. But unlike them, I actually graduated.

Where is your cite? I don’t believe you

Go to the College Navigator website. Look up Longwood University. Look at the tab for graduation and retention rates.

80% of full-time freshmen who started in fall 2023 returned for fall 2024.
48% of the full-time, first-time students starting in fall 2018 graduated in four years(spring 2022); 61% graduated in six years (spring 2024).
Keep in mind this spans the Covid years, so a good number may have taken a semester or two off, artificially reducing their four-year grad rate.

College Navigator has just been updated within the last few weeks with the most recent IPEDS data in this category.

So their graduation rate is above 50% lol as expected PP was full of $hit

Four year graduation rate is 48 percent. Last I checked, 48 is less than 50.

Colleges always cite the 6 year rate.

And? That doesn't mean the 4 year rate is over 50 percent.

Here are the 4 year rates:

https://research.schev.edu/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=gradrates.GRS04_Report

4 year rate is meaningless.

Then why does the Commonwealth of Virginia track it for all of its colleges? Why does US News report it? And why is it the goal of virtually every parent whose kid attends a decent college?

It’s a benchmark to see how students are progressing. What matters is that students do indeed finish, the 6 year rate helps with that.

Actually you have it backwards.

https://hechingerreport.org/how-the-college-lobby-got-the-government-to-measure-graduation-rates-over-six-years-instead-of-four/

4 years is an arbitrary number. Graduation rates seek to measure what percentage of a cohort graduates. 6 years takes into account kids that need to take time off for health issues or family emergencies.

Not true. Cite?

Financial constraints are a key driver in taking time off: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/retention/2024/08/13/academic-struggles-compel-many-students-leave-college

How does that generic cite relate to Longwood?

Why wouldn’t it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Less than half of the students graduate in four years and nearly a quarter don't even return for sophomore year.

What you mean is "fewer than half of the students..."

Right. Fewer than half. But unlike them, I actually graduated.

Where is your cite? I don’t believe you

Go to the College Navigator website. Look up Longwood University. Look at the tab for graduation and retention rates.

80% of full-time freshmen who started in fall 2023 returned for fall 2024.
48% of the full-time, first-time students starting in fall 2018 graduated in four years(spring 2022); 61% graduated in six years (spring 2024).
Keep in mind this spans the Covid years, so a good number may have taken a semester or two off, artificially reducing their four-year grad rate.

College Navigator has just been updated within the last few weeks with the most recent IPEDS data in this category.

So their graduation rate is above 50% lol as expected PP was full of $hit

Four year graduation rate is 48 percent. Last I checked, 48 is less than 50.

Colleges always cite the 6 year rate.

Time to be blunt. Four year graduation rates matter at the institutional level. Yes, for some it may take longer but typically six year students take on increased debt and delay entry into the workforce. Longwood compares favorably to a peer school, Radford, which has a 34-35 percent four year rate. 6 year graduation is not mono-causal, but if a school doesn't make it easy to get required classes in time, well that is important to know.

There are success stories. Boise State's President in the early 2000 was pushing Congress to dissolve the Power 5 (now Power 4) football monopoly. It was his primary concern. The school then had a 4 year grad rate of 5%. What a case of misplaced values. After much work by their administration, the 4 year rate if up to 40%, with the 6 year rate at 61%. Kudos to them.

I am not sure the rate itself, however, is relevant to an individual student. If they are serious about studies, and they don't intend to switch majors, Longwood (or Radford, for that matter) can be the right fit for some. A friend's son went to Longwood for a PE major and is an excellent high school teacher and coach in the state. He made the varsity team at Longwood (walk-on), something not realistic at a P4 program. Always seemed a great choice to me. I don't have coaching or teaching skills (no patience) but I look upon the life this guy leads and am happy for him.

You’re right, graduating in 4 years delays entry into the workforce for those that don’t graduate in 3 years. 3 year graduation rates are very important. See how picking arbitrary numbers doesn’t accomplish anything?

And your nasty, unhelpful comment means what, exactly?

Your tantrum is cute, sweetie. You were right that you lack patience. Unfortunately, it impacts your ability to form a coherent argument.

DP but you’ve offered nothing but insults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t the 6 year graduation rate still low at just 62%?

It’s not bad when you consider the underrepresented students Longwood admits. It’s actually more impressive than schools like UVA that admit the best kids then pat themselves on the back for a high grad rate. It’s not impressive to graduate smart rich kids. It IS impressive to graduate kids that otherwise might not have gone to college.

[url]




THIS! Not everyone can afford to run the four years sequentially. Or finish at all. You see this also at UC Merced. It doesn’t mean the school is failing. It’s the demographic the school serves.

+1 the ignorance on this board never ceases to amaze me.

Oh please. Longwood is a safety school. Its students are less qualified. That's why they're not graduating on time. It's not because they're poor for pete's sake.

Here is a cite suggesting income levels could impact graduation rate. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/retention/2025/12/04/6-year-graduation-rate-holds-steady

Oh, and being poor impacts qualifications to begin with. Guess what happens when you can’t tutor your way into UVa? You go to Longwood

Where on earth are you getting the idea that Longwood is full of poor kids?? It isn't.

It’s already been posted the median household income is 110,000. Not poor, but certainly not rich.

[b]


I don’t know about median income but, according to SCHEV, Longwood’s stats are some of the lowest in the state. Last year’s incoming class had a median 1130 SAT; a 22 ACT, and weighted GPA of 3.71. This is not a slam on Longwood - just facts. And one that - like cost and part-time jobs- goes to a higher graduation rate. One of the great things about the Commonwealth’s 40+ colleges is that there are usually spots for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Compare Longwood’s median HHI to JMU and UVa and note that Longwood is the lowest. Longwood is true middle class whereas the colleges with higher grad rates are UMC and upper class.

[Anonymous]

And remember, wealth, or lack of wealth, also impacts stats like GPA and SAT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to the New York Times, less than one percent of families with students at Longwood are poor, and half the student body comes from families with incomes in the top 20 percent nationwide. It's not a school for poor kids, it's a school for low achieving kids. THAT'S why the graduation rate is so low.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/longwood-university

The reading comprehension on this forum is the definition of ironic.

"The median family income of a student from Longwood is $110,700, and 50% come from the top 20 percent. Less than 1% of students at Longwood came from a poor family but became a rich adult."

[Anonymous]

I had a friend who attended and loved Longwood (20ish years ago) and did amazingly well there and in grad school (where I met her) and I’ve thought highly of the school ever since. But the fact is it’s a third or even fourth-tier VA public, so while there are some great students there, there are also some academic duds and students who suffer from weaker socioeconomic backgrounds that impact the graduation rates.

VA has a wealth of public colleges, which is a wonderful thing, but it means that the lower-tier ones simply aren’t going to have the strongest students.

My (not comprehensive) tier list would be

1 - UVA, VT, W&M (in no particular order do not @ me)
2 - GMU, JMU
2.5 - VCU, Mary Wash, Hollins

3/4 - CNU, ODU, RMC, Longwood, Radford, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t the 6 year graduation rate still low at just 62%?

It’s not bad when you consider the underrepresented students Longwood admits. It’s actually more impressive than schools like UVA that admit the best kids then pat themselves on the back for a high grad rate. It’s not impressive to graduate smart rich kids. It IS impressive to graduate kids that otherwise might not have gone to college.

[url]




THIS! Not everyone can afford to run the four years sequentially. Or finish at all. You see this also at UC Merced. It doesn’t mean the school is failing. It’s the demographic the school serves.

+1 the ignorance on this board never ceases to amaze me.

Oh please. Longwood is a safety school. Its students are less qualified. That's why they're not graduating on time. It's not because they're poor for pete's sake.

Here is a cite suggesting income levels could impact graduation rate. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/retention/2025/12/04/6-year-graduation-rate-holds-steady

Oh, and being poor impacts qualifications to begin with. Guess what happens when you can’t tutor your way into UVa? You go to Longwood

Where on earth are you getting the idea that Longwood is full of poor kids?? It isn't.

It’s already been posted the median household income is 110,000. Not poor, but certainly not rich.

[b]


I don’t know about median income but, according to SCHEV, Longwood’s stats are some of the lowest in the state. Last year’s incoming class had a median 1130 SAT; a 22 ACT, and weighted GPA of 3.71. This is not a slam on Longwood - just facts. And one that - like cost and part-time jobs- goes to a higher graduation rate. One of the great things about the Commonwealth’s 40+ colleges is that there are usually spots for everyone.

Oh dear a 3.71 GPA--the horrors of horror