Amid much fanfare, the embargoed title, Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities publishes today. David Leonhardt offers the most provocative and arresting discussion of the book in the Economic Scene column of the NY Times. He is also responding to readers’ comments at Economix. I am itching to add on to the feedback, so here goes.

Hugh Fullerton questions whether we should focus on graduation rates so much. One of the most surprising findings in the book involves the intergenerational effect of college graduation. Students who have parents who completed a college degree (not attended some college), are more likely to graduate themselves. Slight improvements now, will have huge benefits for later generations.

And, David Crane mentions drop-out rates of freshmen, but the research in Crossing the Finish Line finds that 44% of drop outs occur after the sophomore year. Drop-out is a threat throughout college, but most universities focus their retention efforts on freshmen and sophomores. They might see good results if they extended this support through the complete collegiate experience.

Additional media coverage of the book

Chronicle of Higher Education excerpt
David Glenn writing in the Chronicle of Higher Education
Scott Jaschik writing for Inside Higher Ed
Justin Pope writing for the Associated Press
Education Next video interview with Matthew M. Chingos

Mary Beth Marklein writing in USA Today