University of Southern Mississippi

What are the graduation rates for students at University of Southern Mississippi?

Southern Miss's reported six-year graduation rate is 49%, while its four-year rate is 34%. These are cohort measures: they track a defined group of first-time, full-time degree-seeking students, rather than everyone who attends the university.

The reported first-year retention rate is 72%, meaning roughly seven in ten students in the measured cohort returned for the following year. Graduation-rate measures have important limits for a university that also enrolls substantial numbers of transfers: students who start elsewhere are not represented in the standard first-time cohort in the same way. The figures are useful for considering the likelihood of finishing on a particular timetable, but they do not establish why individual students leave, transfer, or take longer.

Time to degree has financial consequences. A student comparing four-year plans should ask whether required courses, clinical placements, or other major-specific sequences can be completed on schedule - and what an additional term would cost.

What is the earning potential for graduates at University of Southern Mississippi?

Federal College Scorecard program data report earnings for some Southern Miss completers about one year after finishing their programs. The reported figures vary considerably by field: registered nursing is listed at $55,957, computer and information sciences at $51,563, business administration at $38,213, and journalism at $26,614.

These are program-level reported earnings measures for the graduates included in the federal data, not starting salaries offered to every student or forecasts of an individual's pay. Coverage and cohort size vary, and earnings for some programs are not reported. One-year results also miss later career changes, further education, regional wage differences, and the costs of obtaining additional credentials. For a licensed or graduate-study-oriented field, the education needed after the bachelor's degree can be especially important when interpreting an early-career figure.

Students can use the numbers as one comparison point alongside program costs and likely career paths. Southern Miss's career services offer individual counseling, résumé and interview help, employer connections, job fairs, and job-search resources; access to those services is not the same thing as a verified employment outcome.