Research · College outcomes · October 2026

Harvard and Princeton graduate 97.6% of their students in four years

As of October 2026: Harvard University and Princeton University both graduate 97.6% of their first-time full-time students within four years, the highest figures among the colleges families apply to most. At the other end of the same list, Southern New Hampshire University finishes 42.8% in four years and Grand Canyon University 43.5%.

The table holds the four-year completion rate for the most-applied-to colleges, counting students who started there as first-time full-time freshmen and finished there.

Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com), October 2026. Figures and the table may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.

The findings, in plain English

The top of the list is almost all private. Harvard and Princeton both sit at 97.6%. Duke follows at 96.8%, Penn at 96.5% and Columbia at 96.1%. At these colleges, finishing in four years is simply what almost everyone does.

Several public campuses are right there with them. The University of Virginia graduates 95.6% in four years. Georgia Tech is at 94.0%, Michigan at 93.2%, UC Berkeley at 92.8% and UCLA at 92.6%. A public price does not have to mean a longer degree.

At the lower end, a fifth year is common. Cal State LA graduates 53.0% in four years and Texas State 55.3%. CUNY City College is at 56.8%, and UC Merced is at 68.7%. At these colleges, finishing on time happens, but it is far from automatic.

Four-year graduation rate, college by college

Sorted from the highest four-year rate to the lowest.

CollegeStateGraduated in four years
Harvard University MA 97.6%
Princeton University NJ 97.6%
Duke University NC 96.8%
University of Pennsylvania PA 96.5%
Columbia University in the City of New York NY 96.1%
University of Chicago IL 95.8%
Yale University CT 95.7%
Brown University RI 95.7%
University of Virginia-Main Campus VA 95.6%
Cornell University NY 95.4%
Northwestern University IL 95.1%
Washington University in St Louis MO 94.3%
Carnegie Mellon University PA 94.1%
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus GA 94.0%
Johns Hopkins University MD 93.8%
Vanderbilt University TN 93.5%
Tufts University MA 93.5%
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor MI 93.2%
University of California-Berkeley CA 92.8%
University of California-Los Angeles CA 92.6%
Stanford University CA 91.9%
University of Southern California CA 91.8%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill NC 91.2%
University of Florida FL 91.1%
Boston College MA 90.8%
Northeastern University MA 90.5%
University of Georgia GA 89.7%
University of Wisconsin-Madison WI 89.5%
The University of Texas at Austin TX 88.9%
Boston University MA 88.7%
University of Maryland-College Park MD 88.6%
Ohio State University-Main Campus OH 87.7%
New York University NY 87.6%
Case Western Reserve University OH 87.2%
University of California-Irvine CA 86.9%
Clemson University SC 86.6%
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo CA 86.4%
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA 86.2%
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus PA 86.1%
University of California-San Diego CA 86.0%
University of California-Davis CA 85.7%
Florida State University FL 85.6%
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus PA 85.5%
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities MN 85.3%
University of Washington-Seattle Campus WA 85.2%
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign IL 85.1%
North Carolina State University at Raleigh NC 84.8%
Texas A & M University-College Station TX 83.9%
University of Miami FL 83.7%
Rutgers University-New Brunswick NJ 83.6%
Syracuse University NY 83.6%
University of Massachusetts-Amherst MA 83.3%
University of Connecticut CT 83.3%
Purdue University-Main Campus IN 83.1%
University of California-Santa Barbara CA 83.0%
Auburn University AL 82.0%
Fordham University NY 81.9%
Binghamton University NY 81.6%
Michigan State University MI 80.7%
University of Delaware DE 80.5%
Indiana University-Bloomington IN 80.2%
Baylor University TX 80.0%
Miami University-Oxford OH 79.8%
James Madison University VA 79.7%
University of South Carolina-Columbia SC 78.8%
Drexel University PA 78.2%
University of Central Florida FL 78.0%
University of South Florida FL 76.8%
San Diego State University CA 76.4%
University of California-Riverside CA 76.0%
Stony Brook University NY 75.6%
University at Buffalo NY 75.2%
University of California-Santa Cruz CA 75.1%
Temple University PA 75.0%
University of Cincinnati-Main Campus OH 75.0%
University of Colorado Boulder CO 74.2%
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville TN 73.9%
The University of Alabama AL 73.4%
Loyola University Chicago IL 73.0%
University of Oregon OR 71.7%
California State University-Fullerton CA 70.2%
San Jose State University CA 69.2%
California State University-Long Beach CA 68.9%
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College LA 68.8%
University of California-Merced CA 68.7%
Texas Tech University TX 68.7%
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona CA 68.4%
Arizona State University Campus Immersion AZ 68.0%
DePaul University IL 67.8%
University of Arizona AZ 67.5%
Colorado State University-Fort Collins CO 66.5%
Liberty University VA 65.3%
The University of Tampa FL 63.7%
Northern Arizona University AZ 61.3%
University of North Texas TX 60.7%
CUNY City College NY 56.8%
Texas State University TX 55.3%
California State University-Los Angeles CA 53.0%
Grand Canyon University AZ 43.5%
Southern New Hampshire University NH 42.8%

The share of first-time full-time students who began at the college and earned a degree there within four years, from the latest federal completion file as of October 2026. Students who transfer in are not counted, and a student who transfers out and graduates elsewhere counts as not finishing here. A college's own page may show a newer number.

What the four-year rate counts

The rate follows one group: students who started at the college as first-time full-time freshmen. It asks whether they earned a degree at that same college within four years. A student who transfers in is not in the group. A student who transfers out and graduates somewhere else counts as not finishing here, even though the degree happened.

So a low rate can mean two different things. It can mean students need longer. It can also mean students leave for another college. The single number does not say which, which is why the rate is a question to start with rather than a verdict.

Why the fifth year costs real money

Every price a family plans around is a price for one year. A fifth year of college means a fifth year of paying for college, and a first paycheck that arrives a year later. That is the quiet cost inside a low four-year rate.

Some of it is by design. Co-op terms, double majors and long lab sequences run past four years on purpose. The rate alone does not say which reason is at work, so read it beside the program your kid actually wants.

What a family should do with this

Find each college on your kid's list in the table and write the rate next to the price. Two colleges can share a price and still sit a long way apart here, and that distance is money.

Then build the budget on the college's own record rather than on four years flat. If the rate is low, read the course plan for the major your kid wants and count the terms it takes. Keep the newest figure in view, since a college's own page may show a newer number than the federal file.

Questions parents ask

Which college graduates the most students in four years?

Harvard University and Princeton University both graduate 97.6% of their first-time full-time students within four years, the highest figures among the colleges families apply to most.

Does the four-year rate count students who transfer out?

A student who transfers out and graduates somewhere else counts as not finishing here, even though the degree happened.

Why does the four-year rate matter for cost?

A fifth year of college means a fifth year of paying for college, and a first paycheck that arrives a year later.

Method & sources: The figures are the College Scorecard's completion measure: the share of first-time full-time students who finished a degree at that college within four years. The population is the colleges that receive the most applications, ranked here from the highest four-year rate to the lowest. Students who transferred in are outside the measure, and students who transferred out count as not finishing. A college's own page may show a newer number than the latest federal file.

This brief as data: /research/colleges-that-graduate-in-four-years.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).

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Related: College outcomes: pay, cost and payoff by major · The payoff of the most-applied-to colleges · What families actually pay at these colleges