Transfer, part-time college students should be counted in federal graduation rate, groups say

Hundreds of Cleveland State University students who will receive degrees at commencement on May 14 will not be considered graduates by the federal government. That’s because they attended part-time, transferred from another institution or dropped out and returned. The U.S. Department of Education bases a college’s graduation rate on how many first-time full-time freshmen receive their degrees within six years.