By: Catherine Spicer

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) — The University of Arkansas set a new record for graduation rates this school year.

The six year graduation rate is above 73.07%, a 2.17 percentage point increase from the record 70.9% set in fall 2025. The four year graduation rate also set a record high above 62%. 

The Student Success Office worked with the Graduation Pathways Working Group and the Mission 6-Year Graduation Project to help students achieve graduation. 

The Graduation Pathways Working Group team consists of representatives from each college who work to identify barriers to graduation and make changes to remove the barriers. The Mission 6-Year Graduation Project team then provides individualized student support to help them graduate.

The project began last fall to help students who were freshmen in the fall of 2020 and 2021 and will continue to work with more students.

Deborah Korth, senior associate vice provost for student success and academic excellence, said in a release that raising the graduation rate more than 2 percentage points in one year is an accomplishment. 

“These students worked hard to reach this milestone, and I’m proud of their dedication and the Mission 6 project team,” Korth said. “We couldn’t have achieved this success without the partnership of the Graduation Pathways Working Group and the strong collaboration across the university.” 

Lyndsey Bradshaw, director of executive communications for University Relations, said increasing the graduation rates is an important goal for the university.

“[The] more students that graduate, the more students succeed,” Bradshaw said. “We definitely want to do whatever we can to help our students succeed.” 

The initiatives are a part of the university’s 150 Forward Reaching Higher Strategic Plan, which has a goal of an 80% graduation rate. The graduation rate increased from 55.3% in 2000 to 70.9% in 2025. The U of A is looking to reach 80% sooner.