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Completion and Graduation

Graduation Rate

The Student Right to Know Act requires Strayer University to report a graduation calculation that includes only the following population: full-time, first-time, undergraduate, degree/certificate seeking students who enroll at Strayer University during a fall quarter. This population is identified each year and followed for up to 6 years to determine the percentage of graduating students. Because the majority of Strayer University’s students are either part-time students or transfer students who have previously attended an institution of higher education, this rate only represents 60 students, which is 0.13% of the University’s student body in Fall 2017.

For the cohort of students entering Fall 2017, the Student Right to Know Act graduation rate was 18 percent. This data is updated by July 1 of each year.

Strayer University does not disaggregate this data by gender, racial and ethnic subgroup or receipt of different categories of financial aid as the resulting number of students in these subgroups is insufficient to provide with confidence and confidentiality.

Retention Rate

Each year, Strayer University reports its retention rate to the U.S. Department of Education. These rates measure the percentage of first-time, bachelor’s degree-seeking undergraduate students who returned to Strayer University to continue their studies the following fall quarter. The percentage of students who began their studies in Fall 2021 and returned in Fall 2022 following the Department of Education method, was 39 percent for first-time, full-time students and 33 percent for first-time, part-time students. It is important to note that this rate does not include new students entering with transfer credit, new students seeking undergraduate certificates, diplomas, or Associate degrees, or new students seeking graduate certificates, diplomas, or Master’s degrees at Strayer University. Many Strayer students attend for one or more terms, take a term off, then return to their studies. Additionally, many new Strayer students enter the University with transfer credits. These students are not included in the retention rate calculated following the Department of Education method.

Placement Rates

Strayer University is not required by any state or institutional accrediting agency to calculate placement rates. Although Strayer does not offer job placement services or regularly calculate placement rates, it does have general statistics for Veteran Rapid retraining Assistance Program (VRRAP) graduates: Of the 503 VRRAP students who completed the program between July 2021 and June 2024, 132 have self-certified that they are employed. In addition, the Strayer University alumni survey contains the following question: “What is your current employment status?” In 2023, 90% of respondents who were three years after graduation indicated in response to this question that they were employed (87% full-time, 3% part-time). The response rate for this population is 6.3% and includes responses from both our undergraduate- and graduate-level alumni. This information does not address whether the graduate was employed in a field related to his or her studies, and it does not address whether the graduate already had a job while enrolled at Strayer and/or advanced to another job after graduation.

Cohort Default Rate

Strayer University’s latest available (FY 2020) cohort default rate, as calculated by the U.S. Department of Education, is 0.0 percent. 

Types of graduate and professional education in which graduates enroll

In accordance with the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended, each postsecondary educational institution must make available information regarding the types of graduate and professional education in which graduates of the institution’s four-year degree programs enrolled.

When reviewing these data it is important to understand that Strayer University is primarily an adult-serving institution. In Fall 2022, 15% of Strayer students were enrolled in master’s level programs, the average age of Strayer students was 37, and 90% were enrolled part-time. First-time, full-time undergraduate students make up less than 1% of our fall 2022 enrollment.

The most common areas of study where Strayer students are completing their degrees are as follows: 

  • Business
  • Information Systems & Technology
  • Criminal Justice

This data is derived from the IPEDS Completions Survey data (July 1, 2022, to July 30, 2023).  

29.9% of students who received a bachelor’s degree from Strayer re-enrolled in a Strayer master’s program as of Dec. 31, 2022.  This information is sourced from internal Strayer enrollment data.

Of the Strayer bachelor's alumni from 2012 - 2022 (n=38,970), 14,373 alumni went on to pursue a master's degree (per National Student Clearinghouse data): 36.8%. Keeping in mind that most of Strayer’s students are enrolled part-time, among respondents to the Alumni Survey, 2% of graduates of our 4-year bachelor’s degree programs indicate their primary activity after graduation as being enrolled in a program of continuing education. This data is sourced from an alumni survey administered quarterly for all Strayer alumni from Q3 2021 through Q3 2023, and the response rate was 8.2%.