Graduation rate for Class of 2014 will be big test for Ammons

FAMU's six-year graduation rate has attracted lots of news coverage, lately. FAMU President James H. Ammons' administration has taken a number of steps to help students earn their baccalaureate degrees more quickly. But there won’t be enough data to fully evaluate the success of this work until two years from now.

Ammons' first day as president was July 2, 2007. He recruited the freshman class that enrolled in Fall 2008. Their six-year graduation rate success won’t be known until the Spring of 2014.

The six classes that have reached the six-year point since Ammons took the top job were recruited by previous presidents.

Frederick S. Humphries

Class of 2007 (Enrolled in Fall 2001): 38.3%

Class of 2008 (Enrolled in Fall 2002): 40.8%

Fred J. Gainous

Class of 2009 (Enrolled in Fall 2003): 40.1%

Class of 2010 (Enrolled in Fall 2004): 41.0%

Class of 2011 (Enrolled in Fall 2005): 39.3%

The Class of 2012 (that just had its Spring commencement) and the Class of 2013 applied back when FAMU had an interim president.

The current university administration has worked to help students raise their course loads by implementing new fee breaks, expanding on-campus housing, increasing financial aid, and making more academic advisors available.

Ammons' Class of 2014 looks like it is on track to a strong finish. FAMU’s lower division students (freshman and sophomores) have actually topped their peers at the University of Florida in average course loads for the past three years.

Everyone is anxious to see improvement in FAMU’s graduation. But it will take a couple more years before the current administration’s progress in this area can be evaluated fairly.