Journalism Students Graduate on Time
The Michigan State University Office of Planning and Budgets tracks the average number of years that students take to graduate ("time to degree") and follows student retention (called "persistence") and counts the time it takes a cohort to graduate ("rate of graduation") for the individual majors. As you see below, Journalism majors have a great record that has sustained over the years.
Time to Degree
Time to Degree is the average of the number of years it takes students to graduate.
The facts: For Journalism majors who graduated in the 2023-2024 academic year, the average time it took them to graduate was 3.83 years, even with an internship. This compares to 4.15 years in 2022-2023 and 3.83 years in 2021-2022.
What this means: This means that some students graduate in four or fewer years because they take online courses in the summer (and school year) to progress in their program while being away from campus taking study abroad courses, interning at companies or doing other types of work.
Some students may take a little longer to graduate because they may be away from campus, doing internships across multiple semesters or taking fewer courses each semester. Still others might transfer in from another major or another school and need to catch up on a few courses.
Retention/Graduation Rates
Retention is the number (percentage) of students who returned to MSU the next year.
The facts: The retention rate of first-time undergraduate students who entered the MSU School of Journalism in fall 2022 and returned in fall 2023 (the last year of available data) was 79 percent (overall 90 percent stayed at MSU).
Based on recent averages, 55 percent of students who enroll in the School of Journalism completed a Journalism or Digital Storytelling degree within six years (overall, 87 percent completed a degree at MSU).
What this means: Students enjoy their first year and, on average over recent years, roughly 90 percent returned to MSU to continue their studies. However, some students may decide that personal circumstances cause them to sit out a year, or they choose to work full-time and defer their program to a later date; or they change to another university or major.
Summary
School of Journalism students overall are happy with their experience and return to study at MSU. And, students are successful in graduating with a degree in Journalism or Digital Storytelling in about 4 years.