<p>Based on attending public institutions, you generally have a harder time graduating in the 4 year period than that of a good private institution. However, this is a very general rule. There are a lot of factors that cause this or can overcome this problem such as:</p>
<p>a. whether the institution encourages internships. If they do then 4 year graduation rates will decline.</p>
<p>b. Budget for the year: This can result in a decrease in the number of sections available for courses. UCSD has a reputation for having this problem, although that may be hearsay.</p>
<p>c. Honors program availability: Honors kids generally register first. They usually don't have registration problems.</p>
<p>d. Lower academic standards: This was mentioned above. If a school has lower academic standards, there may be lower graduation rates. This dosn't mean that it is a bad school. On the contrary, it may have high standards.</p>
<p>e. Not enough sections: Although I do believe that this happens at a number of public institutions, it can be a problem for private schools as well, especialy for the larger private school. I don't think that all private schools are immune from this problem simply because they are private schools.</p>
<p>I am sure that there are other factors that I haven't even thought of..</p>
<p>I, thus, would not assume that you will necessarily take longer to graduate if you are in a public institution vs. a private college.</p>