Lake Area Technical College Ranked Number One for Graduation Rate

Watertown, SD – The Chronicle of Higher Education named Lake Area Technical College in Watertown the number one public two-year college in the nation for graduation rates. LATI’s 73.5 percent graduation rate more than triples the national average of 20.4 percent for public two-year colleges. Lake Area Technical College was also 13.7 percentage points higher than the number two public two-year school’s graduation rate.

The compiled data includes freshman retention rates. Lake Area Technical College’s is 83.1 percent, which is among the top in the nation. These figures reflect the school’s mission to provide students a meaningful and relevant education.

“Lake Area Technical College places a great deal of emphasis on graduation rates because our entire mission is to provide a superior streamlined education that will lead to great jobs,” said LATI Retention Coordinator Lee Quale. “Our staff does an excellent job working closely with our business partners to continually reinforce to the students what industry expects. Through that partnership, students see the possibilities of what an LATI degree can do for them and the value of graduating.”

Only colleges with at least 500 freshmen entering in the fall of 2004 were considered for these lists that included public and for-profit two- and four-year colleges. Results are based on data and trends at 3,800 degree-granting institutions in the United States and were collected by the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and the Voluntary System of Accountability’s Success and Progress Rate.