The study, conducted by Hennessey Digital, analyzed graduation rates across all colleges in each state, highlighting a troubling trend for Arizona, where only 49.58% of the students in the cohort completed their degrees within 150% of the normal program completion time (4 years).
This places Arizona alongside other struggling states, making it one of the eight states below 50% graduation.
“Regardless of what you’re studying, college can be a challenging time, said CEO of Hennessey Digital, Jason Hennessey. “For many, it’s the first experience of independence, a change from the environment you’ve grown up in and ultimately, incredibly intense. It’s not surprising to see that many drop out of their courses before graduation, but ultimately, every student needs to consider what’s going to make them happy and successful and an academic path is not always going to achieve that.”
The research identifies Alaska as the state with the lowest college graduation rate at 32.93%, a staggering 27.99% below the national average. Only 735 of 2,232 students in Alaska’s cohort completed their degrees.
Following closely are Nevada, with 45.20% completion, with 4,932 out of 10,912 students graduating, and New Mexico, with 47.80% completion and 3,523 out of 7,370 students graduating. Both are struggling with significant gaps in degree completion compared to the national average.
In contrast, Massachusetts leads the nation with a 75.41% graduation rate, 14.49% above the national average, with 40,011 out of 53,060 students completing their degrees.
Rhode Island follows at 73% with 8,835 of 12,103 students graduating and then Connecticut at 70.77% with 14,898 of 21,052 students graduating.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
In November 2022, Arizona voters narrowly approved Prop. 308, making Arizona the 24th state in the nation giving taxpayer-subsidized, in-state tuition rates to illegals. Its narrow passage on the ballot was preceded by its razor-thin passage at the state legislature, slipping out because two former Republican legislators, who since lost their seats to primary challengers, rolled their caucus and voted in lock step with Democrats to force it for a vote.
It was in part billed by proponents as only applying to “Dreamers,” or recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program established under the Obama administration. In reality, it allowed for anyone here illegally to get in-state tuition rates as long as they spent at least two years in an Arizona high school—signaling to the rest of the world that if you enter here illegally in time to go to an Arizona high school, American taxpayers will subsidize your tuition at our universities.
But they hid from the public one important fact. It unequivocally violates federal law…
Here’s an economics lesson that belongs in the text books.
Student loan debt soared to more than $1.5 trillion during the Biden presidency and the response by Washington was to “forgive” hundreds of billions of these unpaid loans by deadbeat borrowers and let the taxpayers pick up the tab. It was never clear why the universities who charge exorbitant tuitions that have reached more than $75,000 a year at many elite schools shouldn’t bear the cost of the program – but that’s another story.
Those of us who watched these events upfold predicted that one result of this policy would be that many college graduates would stop paying back their loans. And guess what?
Just like clockwork, this headline from Bloomberg recently told the whole story:
“Student loans drive U.S. delinquency rate to highest since 2020”
Gee, who – except a bunch of head-in-the-sand- politicians in Washington – would have ever thought that forgiving as many people from paying their student loans as possible would increase future non-payments?
Well, the Biden administration for one. Now that the Department of Education is honestly reporting the data, we find that serious delinquency rates are over more than 10 times what the Biden Department of Education said they were.
There is an old saying in physics and economics: every action in the universe has a reaction. How many students in the future will pay back unpaid student loans when the next forgiveness program is right around the corner? So people who did the right thing and paid back their debts now have to pay more for the people who refused to pay back the money they owed.
In Washington, we love to reward vice and punish virtue.
As we said many times last year: expect student loan defaults to remain sky high for many years, as deadbeat borrowers wait for the next student loan amnesty program.
Fortunately, in the House of Representatives “Big Beautiful tax bill,” there are new caps of $50,000 on student loans for undergraduate students and $100,000 for grad students. This cap should help slow the stampede of higher tuition prices, which have grown two to three times the rate of overall inflation over the last thirty years. The availability of cheap student loans only fueled this stampede of tuition prices. The Wall Street Journal calls this move “The End of The College Free Lunch.”
The bad news is that we should anticipate bigger stashes of student loans to pile up at taxpayers’ doors in the years to come. The good news is that this scam has reminded us that in life incentives matter. This episode brought to light the financial foolishness of debt forgiveness programs and so hopefully we will never do this again.
Stephen Moore is a contributor to The Daily Caller News Foundation, a cofounder of Unleash Prosperity, and a former senior economic adviser to Donald Trump. His most recent book is “The Trump Economic Miracle.”
The Arizona State Senate is considering HB 2880, a bill that would prohibit individuals from establishing or occupying encampments on university and community college campuses. The bill, sponsored by State Representative Alma Hernandez (D-LD20), passed the Arizona House of Representatives with a 41-17-2 vote and outlines enforcement procedures and penalties for violators.
The legislation defines an encampment as a temporary shelter, including tents, set up on campus for overnight or prolonged stays. If an individual or group is found in violation, university or college administrators would be required to order the encampment dismantled and direct the individuals to vacate. Failure to comply would result in charges of criminal trespass and possible legal action, including removal by law enforcement.
Additionally, students who refuse to leave could face disciplinary action under their institution’s student code of conduct. Violators would also be held liable for any damages resulting from the encampment, including costs related to removal, campus restoration, and property repair.
The bill aligns with Arizona laws protecting free speech on college campuses, allowing restrictions only when expression violates laws, disrupts university operations, or falls outside First Amendment protections. While supporters argue that the bill upholds campus safety and prevents disruptions, critics contend it could limit protest activities and infringe on student rights.
The issue of campus encampments recently came to the forefront in Arizona following the arrests of protesters at Arizona State University (ASU). According to reports, multiple demonstrators were detained during an anti-Israel protest on campus, where students and activists had set up an encampment in defiance of university regulations. Law enforcement intervened after the protest was deemed disruptive to campus operations.
The incident at ASU has intensified discussions surrounding HB 2880, with supporters arguing that the bill is necessary to prevent similar disruptions, while critics claim it could be used to suppress student activism. The event highlights the broader national debate over the limits of protest on college campuses and the role of law enforcement in maintaining order. Several states have introduced similar legislation in response to high-profile protests that have disrupted campus operations.
If enacted, the bill would require enforcement by campus security and local law enforcement agencies. The Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) and community college governing boards would ensure compliance with student conduct policies.
The bill now awaits further deliberation in the Senate. As the debate continues, lawmakers, university administrators, and students will likely weigh the balance between maintaining order on campuses and protecting the right to protest.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
You know something is seriously wrong with our nation’s universities when the ultra-liberal Bill Maher vigorously advised our youth, on his nationally syndicated cable TV show, to stay far away from college because “it just makes you stupid.” Clearly the majority of Americans agree with Bill’s denunciation, for according to a survey by Gallup, just 14 percent of Americans—and only 11 percent of business leaders—strongly agreed that graduates have the necessary skills and competencies to succeed in the workplace.
Charles J. Sykes, author of Failed U:TheFalse Promise of Higher Education, succinctly describes the circus-like campus atmosphere that is currently indulged by university students:
The four-year or longer sojourn in the groves of academe is a kaleidoscopic experience of classrooms, frats, lectures, keg parties, all-nighters, political correctness, hookups, alcohol, athletic spectacle, and the occasional intellectual insight.
At some point in their college experience, students are thankful that their parents have only the vaguest idea what they have been paying for on campus—not just the extracurricular drunken feasts but also the bizarre cultural intolerances, the obsessive rituals of conformity, the absentee faculty, teaching assistants unable to speak English, the hair-trigger racial, cultural, gender, and political sensitivities, and the junk courses with their effort-free As.
To drive this point home, a progressive college preparatory book entitled: The Her Campus Guide to College Life (please note the absence of a Him in the title), unwittingly exposed the amoral world that is commonly experienced nowadays on a college campus near you. The book’s contents are filled with wicked subtitles:
PREVENTING THEFT • PROTECTING AGAINST INTRUDERS • STAYING SAFE AT PARTIES AND BARS • BEING SAFE WHILE HOOKING UP • STAYING SAFE LATE AT NIGHT • PREVENTING SEXUAL ASSAULT • STALKERS • EATING DISORDERS IN COLLEGE • DRINKING • SMOKING • VAPING • DRUGS • STRESS • ANXIETY • DEPRESSION • EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HAVING SAFE SEX • HOOK-UPS • SEX • ROTTEN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS • FRENEMIES • TOXIC FRIENDSHIPS • ROOMMATE CONTRACTS
What responsible parent would knowingly want to send her beautiful child to this depraved environment for four years? But if not college, then what? Well, realize that there are over 12,000 occupations to choose from, yet the typical university offers roughly 76 majors—just 76 career choices. It’s this vast world of 12,000 occupations that is largely ignored by high school guidance counselors, who for decades have forcefully issued a dire edict: any high school graduate who fails to attain the right to walk the hallowed halls of a university will be banned from achieving the American Dream. The lie worked. College was tattooed on nearly everyone’s lips, and the nation’s parents suddenly took issue with the son or daughter who wanted to join the ranks of the “washouts” who were enrolled in a “lowly” trade school.
So now, the country is inundated with unskilled college graduates who are recipients of useless diplomas, a mountain of debt, and a seething hatred toward capitalism and Old Glory. Nevertheless, because of a staunch belief in the college “dream,” a young alumnus will proudly reference to potential employers the degree she earned five years ago in Women’s Studies from State University, even though she is currently living in her childhood bedroom while earning $13.65 an hour as a coffee shop barista. Meanwhile, due to a huge shortage of skilled trade professionals, millions of open and high-paying trade positions will be left vacant. The nation urgently needs more security, fire, and service technicians, solar energy technicians, 3D printing technicians, pipe fitters, sales representatives, plumbers, pile-driver operators, drone pilots, stonemasons, diesel mechanics, dental hygienists, cybersecurity experts, glaziers, physical therapy assistants, reinforcing iron and rebar workers, pilots, and elevator mechanics—who can earn $50 an hour without a college degree!
In reality, the land of opportunity is found in over 30,000 apprenticeship programs that will pay a student to learn a blue- or white-collar skill. It is also found in trade schools, cyber bootcamps, sales, community colleges with corporate alliances, mentorships, entrepreneuring, and jobs offered to high school graduates. So long as a young adult can solve every day math problems, can read, write and speak well, it is within this vast world of career training opportunities—offered outside the college arena—that young adults will find the positions in life that will be both financially and spiritually rewarding.
For example, we had a deeply shy young man come to our home to repair our refrigerator ice making machine. After nine months of training, and 14 months of work experience, he is now earning $72,000 annually at the age of 22. Then, too, the new CEO of Costco started working for the company as a forklift driver. And the high school dropout John Marriot, founder of Marriot Hotels, started his career as a long john salesman to lumberjacks in the Pacific northwest. There are millions of similar inspirational stories that serve to utterly destroy the college-is-superior myth—over and over and over again.
In summation, what do each of the following trade school programs have in common: Plumbing, Ship Building, Dental Hygienist, HVAC, and Surgical Technician? Well, they each provide a graduate with a real, high-paying job skill that will serve him or her for life. Now, let’s pick five Harvard University majors that are deemed by its governing board to be worthy of a $217,000 tuition price tag (excluding room and board and other fees): Folklore and Mythology, African and African American Studies, History of Art and Architecture, International Relations, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality. Seriously, what job skills does a Folklore and Mythology graduate bring to the table? And couldn’t this subject be mastered inexpensively simply by reading $300 worth of textbooks? And how are these graduates going to afford to pay a $2,500 monthly student loan payment while possibly earning $100 a day for regaling entertaining folklore stories at a Renaissance fair?
So, Bill Maher was spot on when he emphatically declared: “Don’t go to college!” For their sake, and the sake of our country, may our young adults heed his clarion warning.
Bruce Goodmansen is the president of Fire Up the Soul, LLC, and the author of the bestselling book: 100% Success Without College, which can be reviewed at anythingbutcollege.com. He is often invited to speak at conservative and homeschooling events.
