Graduation Rates in the Toilet

In Chicago: At Northeastern Illinois University, a tidy commuter campus on the North Side of Chicago, only 17 percent of students who enroll as full-time freshmen graduate within six years, according to data collected by the federal Department of Education. At Chicago State University on the South Side, the overall graduation rate is 16 percent.

Money quote:
“When you have a system where virtually everyone fails, how is that different from designing a system in which the point is for people to fail?” [Kevin Carey, the research and policy manager at the Education Sector] added. “No one can look at that and say this is the best we can do.”