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UHD has one of the worst graduation rates in the country

11,347 Views | 36 Replies | Last: 8 yr ago by 1876er
Dill-Ag13
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Color me shocked
Mikeyshooter
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quote:
Median SAT score: 894

Impressive.
Ferris Wheel Allstar
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commuter school where people do not really go for degrees, just some classwork here or there, Not really that surprising.
Al Bula
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University of Houston Downtown, Houston, Texas
  • Graduation rate: 14.1%
  • Undergraduates: 13,486
  • Median SAT score: 894
  • Pell Grant recipients: 47.4%
  • In-State tuition and fees: $6,614
  • Acceptance rate: 95.09%
UHD is very close to being a diploma mill.
WES2006AG
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quote:
University of Houston Downtown, Houston, Texas
  • Graduation rate: 14.1%
  • Undergraduates: 13,486
  • Median SAT score: 894
  • Pell Grant recipients: 47.4%
  • In-State tuition and fees: $6,614
  • Acceptance rate: 95.09%
UHD is very close to being a diploma mill.

I knew the UHD wasn't the Harvard of the south but these numbers are laughable. If you have a 14.1% graduation rate you need to admit in your advertising that you are just taking money and offering nothing in return.
AggieJoji
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With a 900 SAT score, the students are probably too stupid to pass the classes.
AG@RICE
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quote:
University of Houston Downtown, Houston, Texas
  • Graduation rate: 14.1%
  • Undergraduates: 13,486
  • Median SAT score: 894
  • Pell Grant recipients: 47.4%
  • In-State tuition and fees: $6,614
  • Acceptance rate: 95.09%
UHD is very close to being a diploma mill.
You cannot actually call them a diploma mill because very few people are getting a diploma.

Open enrollment colleges like UHD take a high risk, high volume model. They give everyone the opportunity to grow and get an education, but you MUST WORK FOR IT. Using graduation rate as a measure of success is a flawed concept in this case.

At a true open enrollment college you should expect to see a low graduation rate UNLESS you water down the curriculum. I've actually looked at some of the curriculum (biology) at UHD and it is legit, which is why the graduation rate is so low. If you dont work hard and put in the effort you cannot pass the classes. Most students with low SAT scores do not have the skills to be successful in college. Some given the opportunity will raise their game and earn a college degree, others will continue their detrimental habits. No college professor is expected to coddle you, do the work or drop out of college and get a job.

In all honesty, a high graduation rate from this school would signal a far bigger problem. Low SAT + High Graduation = Diploma Mill

This is anti-"No child left behind". If you want to raise the bar of society, you have to set the bar of knowledge and effort high. Some people simply do not put in the effort to reach that level. Give everyone the opportunity, but nobody a free pass.

88jrt06
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Solid post, AgRice.
Al Bula
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quote:
In all honesty, a high graduation rate from this school would signal a far bigger problem. Low SAT + High Graduation = Diploma Mill

This is anti-"No child left behind". If you want to raise the bar of society, you have to set the bar of knowledge and effort high. Some people simply do not put in the effort to reach that level. Give everyone the opportunity, but nobody a free pass.
Yes, I see your point. However, the UH-D grads I've been around (from disciplines like business and computer science) aren't the sharpest tools in the shed. Talking about a sample size of 10-12 folks. I fully acknowledge this is personal experience/anecdotal information.

I'm betting of the 14% who do graduate, many are still under-qualified. Sure, there are rigorous hard science or mathematics programs you can't fake your way past. I suppose it is all speculation until we sit in on some UH-D classes, but that's not gonna happen.

The point is well taken though, a true diploma mill would have a high passing rate. After thinking about it, I am more surprised I've actually interacted with 10-12 UH-D grads.
cajunaggie08
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The few I've interacted with were in admin/purchasing roles and were working while they got their degrees while being single mothers. I respect them for doing what it took to get the degree so they can get the pay boost and move beyond being an hourly part time worker.
88jrt06
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What an odd thread.
Dill-Ag13
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I'd say the 2 or 3 engineers from UHD I've run across I've actually been pretty impressed with.
TXTransplant
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quote:
I'd say the 2 or 3 engineers from UHD I've run across I've actually been pretty impressed with.


UH-D doesn't actually offer an engineering degree. They offer an engineering technology degree through the college of science and technology. According to ABET, only graduates from a 4-year engineering program can call themselves engineers. Graduates of 4-year engineering technology degree programs are called technologists.
KurtK85
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From a friend of mine who is a professor there (via text message) in response to the stat:
"It is a misleading stat. That only counts people that enter UHD as freshmen and graduate in six or less years. Most of our students are transfers or take a little longer because they work full time.

We graduate 1500-2000 students a semester.

Since we used to be open admission, our freshmen were underprepared for college. Of our 14k students, a small percentage are considered First time in college (FTIC).

Unfortunately a lot of state funding is based on that number, we are trying to get it up. It just takes up to six years to get major improvements"
Al Bula
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Graduates of 4-year engineering technology degree programs are called technologists.
Be careful, you don't wanna crush the egos of any lurking Aggie ID or ENTC grads!
Ag_07
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Jeez guys...


88jrt06
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quote:
The few I've interacted with were in admin/purchasing roles and were working while they got their degrees while being single mothers. I respect them for doing what it took to get the degree so they can get the pay boost and move beyond being an hourly part time worker.
Me, too, Cajun.
Farmer1906
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quote:
quote:
Graduates of 4-year engineering technology degree programs are called technologists.
Be careful, you don't wanna crush the egos of any lurking Aggie ID or ENTC grads!

Adding "technologist" to the resume now.
Lot Y Tailgate
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I know one guy who graduated from there and he has a great job after working some ****ty ones to get there.

Everyone else I know who has spent time there was doing it to get credits to transfer somewhere else.
Dill-Ag13
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My mistake. Getting confused between UH and UHD
TXTransplant
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quote:
quote:
Graduates of 4-year engineering technology degree programs are called technologists.
Be careful, you don't wanna crush the egos of any lurking Aggie ID or ENTC grads!


ABET says the same thing about the TAMU ESET and MMET bachelors degrees. They are ABET accredited but it's done by a different accreditation commission than the one that evaluates engineering programs (the technology accreditation commission vs the engineering accreditation commission).

The ID program doesn't appear to be ABET accredited, as it isn't on the ABET website at all.

ABET isn't the be-all and end-all, but most major companies require a degree from an ABET accredited engineering company in order to qualify for engineering positions (which is why ABET accreditation is such a big deal for engineering departments and colleges).

If the company doesn't care about the distinction, it's a non-issue. But I used to work in higher ed, which included advising students, so it was important to make the distinction between engineering vs engineering technology programs VERY clear to students and parents who are paying tuition.
TXTransplant
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My mistake. Getting confused between UH and UHD


It is confusing...a few years ago when I was trying to hire lab techs, I had the same mix-up. Thought they were the same, especially since the two schools are in such close physical proximity to each other. But I used to work in the Univ of Alabama system, which is equally confusing, so I shouldn't have been surprised.
84AGEC
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Like most post , ignorance runs rampant on here

This is a school that allows those who work go to school
This is a school that helps those coming out of our failed public education system
This is where some go in order to transfer to what you arrogant jackwagons call a real school
TXTransplant
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quote:
Like most post , ignorance runs rampant on here

This is a school that allows those who work go to school
This is a school that helps those coming out of our failed public education system
This is where some go in order to transfer to what you arrogant jackwagons call a real school


There is definitely a place/need for school like UH-D in higher ed. Not everyone can get into TAMU or UT. Not everyone can relocate for four years to go to school. Heck, not everyone can commit to even attending school full-time. I applaud those who take advantage of schools like UH-D to advance their education and (hopefully) enter into more lucrative careers.

The bigger issue, though, is it's unbelievably expensive to run a four year university. We all know that states don't have unlimited resources, and without pulling the numbers, I'd be willing to bet that a school like UH-D still gets a significant portion of its funding from the state (unlike flagship schools, which typically get single-percentages of their operating budgets directly from the state). There simply aren't unlimited resources to keep schools with this kind of overhead properly funded and staffed. TX is probably in better shape than most states, but I came from AL, where there are 14 public 4-year universities and 27 2-year junior colleges...to serve a TOTAL population of less than 5 million people! The state simply can't afford to support that many schools, so the flagships support themselves (through donations, research funding overhead, generating revenue on things like housing and meal plans, etc) while the remaining schools flounder because of a lack of resources. It's a chicken and egg problem...the schools are under-funded for what they are trying to offer, but they can't get additional funding because they can't attract good faculty (to bring in research funding and the associated overhead) or good students (to increase enrollment).

There is definitely a caste system (for lack of a better term) in higher ed, and while I don't expect a lot of universities to fold anytime soon, there will probably have to be a major shift in how these "lower-tier" schools are operated. What may come off as elitism is the realization that these schools that are a step above a junior college but are not top-tier require a disproportionate amount of resources. Giving everyone at least an opportunity to pursue a college education is something I'm all for, but it's not nor should it be a charity operation. Unfortunately, the lack of accountability and the "too big to fail" mentality is all to prevalent in public higher ed.
cajunaggie08
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quote:
quote:
My mistake. Getting confused between UH and UHD


It is confusing...a few years ago when I was trying to hire lab techs, I had the same mix-up. Thought they were the same, especially since the two schools are in such close physical proximity to each other. But I used to work in the Univ of Alabama system, which is equally confusing, so I shouldn't have been surprised.
I believe they were considering a name change a few years ago because of the confusion, but ultimately realized there really wasn't a better name. I suppose its a bit rare for 3 universities of the same system to exist in the same metro area (UH, UH-Downtown, UH-Clear Lake are all separate schools)
The Milkman
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It is a misleading stat. That only counts people that enter UHD as freshmen and graduate in six or less years.
Came here to post exactly this. It's not a stat on diplomas its a stat on speed. With so many of their students taking part-time or evening classes, graduating with a 4 year degree in 6 years is very difficult.

In a time when I feel like an extrodinarily high percent of people are "uneducated", I applaud anyone who is willing to take the effort (and spend the money) to further their education. No matter the school, degree, or amount of time it took them to get it.
BBRex
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I sort of thought UHD was around so that the main UH campus could become more like a traditional university.
Scientific
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Getting UH and UH-D mixed up, and some of us get irked at hearing Corpus and Kingsville lumped in with CS.

quote:
I sort of thought UHD was around so that the main UH campus could become more like a traditional university.

I think that's been a recent thing. Renu Kahor recently started advocating that route, understanding UH main campus had to raise their admissions requirements.
Buck Nasty
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Wasn't Loftin at UHD back in the day?
cajunaggie08
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I know he was the Vice-President of A&M-Galveston before coming to the main campus
DustysLineup
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quote:
quote:
Graduates of 4-year engineering technology degree programs are called technologists.
Be careful, you don't wanna crush the egos of any lurking Aggie ID or ENTC grads!


Everyone knows if you want to be a real Aggie engineer you start at HCC: http://engineering.tamu.edu/academies
E
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I just finished a professional 2 week project management certificate program done by UH and held at UHD. The certificate program (administered by a consulting firm) was fantastic but UHD is just a community college that offers four year degrees. One of their biggest advertisements and brags is how many first generation college students they have. However they do have a nice outdoor patio area on the third floor with an awesome view of downtown...
MelvinUdall
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My sister got a degree from there and just completed her law degree from UH and passed the bar examine.
Ag_07
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My sister got a degree from there and just completed her law degree from UH and passed the bar examine.

Pics or it didn't happen.

Plus we just wanna see your sister.
Joe Schillaci 48
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Slightly wavering off-topic but a friend once took a part-time job as an adjunct professor at Houston Community College. She left after one semester. Majority of the students were from countries outside the USA and were there to satisfy Visa requirements or to collect grants. Very few were there for education.
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