The Federal government, under the Student Right to Know Act, requires that all colleges and universities report the proportion of full-time students who complete programs within 150% of the normal time required for completion. For Harper College, a community college with two-year programs, that time period is three years for associate degrees and proportionately less for certificates.
| Cohort | Number who graduated with a degree or certificate within 150% of normal time | Graduation Rate | Number who transferred to another institution | Transfer rate | ||
| Overall | ||||||
| Harper College | 1,619 | 771 | 47.6% | 272 | 16.8% | |
| Community Colleges in Illinois* | 23,761 | 8,909 | 37.5% | 4,696 | 19.8% | |
| Gender Disaggregation | ||||||
| Female | 740 | 385 | 52.0% | 112 | 15.1% | |
| Male | 879 | 386 | 43.9% | 160 | 18.2% | |
| Race/Ethnicity Disaggregation | ||||||
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| Asian | 242 | 114 | 47.1% | 63 | 26.0% | |
| Black or African American | 54 | 16 | 29.6% | 14 | 25.9% | |
| Hispanic/Latino | 423 | 158 | 37.4% | 45 | 10.6% | |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| White | 807 | 440 | 54.5% | 130 | 16.1% | |
| Two or more races | 52 | 28 | 53.8% | 6 | 11.5% | |
| Race and ethnicity unknown | 38 | 13 | 34.2% | 14 | 36.8% | |
| Financial Aid Disaggregation | ||||||
| Recipients of a Pell Grant | 596 | 256 | 43.0% | n/a | n/a | |
| Recipients of a Subsidized Stafford Loan that did not receive a Pell Grant | 18 | 8 | 44.4% | n/a | n/a | |
| Did not receive either a Pell Grant or Subsidized Stafford Loan | 1005 | 507 | 50.4% | n/a | n/a | |
Source: IPEDS Graduation Rate Survey
*State totals are from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)
for the 2020 IPEDS cohort
- - Values with less than 5 are masked
Completion data released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) in spring 2025 disclose how full-time students who entered Harper College in fall 2020 compared with other community college students in Illinois. Harper College students had completed, transferred, or were still enrolled three years later at a higher rate (76.6%) than both the State-wide average (67.5%) and the average for our peer institutions** (68.0%).
If these students were followed for four years rather than three years, the transfer and graduation rates would increase. Three years is a relatively short time frame for community college students, many of whom are working full-time or part-time; others may leave school temporarily for work or family reasons; or they may change their program of study; and some students may require developmental coursework upon admission. All of these factors tend to delay events like graduation or transfer.
**Peer institutions include College of DuPage, College of Lake County, Elgin Community College, Joliet Junior College, Moraine Valley CC, Oakton CC, and Triton CC.