It’s a disappointment — and schools are fighting it
March 9, 2010 by Jacob HawleyPosted in: Enrollment, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
College reps in 17 states have joined together to battle one of the biggest issues in higher ed today.
About one in two students who starts college never finish. Now a multi-state alliance, Complete College America, has formed to fight these disappointing completion rates through policy changes and ambitious plans. The goal: ensure 60% of students hold an associate or bachelor’s degree by 2020, bringing the numbers up from the current 38%.
There’s some question of whether these efforts can succeed against the cuts to state funding for public higher education. But the leaders behind Complete College America expect that a federal incentive program could provide money for successful states, as part of a bill calling for government to replace private lenders in the student loan business.
Also on the agenda: addressing the gap in degree completion between white students (half of whom earn a degree) and African-American and Hispanic students (one-third of whom earn a degree).
Funding for Complete College America comes from several charity groups, including Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has donated $12 million in startup funds. The states involved are Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia.
Tell us how your school has combated low graduation rates in the comments section below.
HigherEdMorning delivers the latest HigherEd news once a week to the inboxes of over 200,000 HigherEd professionals.
Click here to sign up and start your FREE subscription to HigherEdMorning!
Tags: college completion, Complete College America, graduation rates
Loading ...
March 10th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
First let students transfer in certain classes. The drop out because of money. Why should I have to pay $2,000 for an class that I can take somewhere else for $300? The they won’t accept only an certain amount of credits.
March 10th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Why is it that government lending instead of private lending will be an incentive to complete college? It would seem that less lending, less grants and less education welfare would be more of an incentive to students to complete their chosen curriculum. It seems that too many students now tend to milk the grants and loans so as to avoid getting a real job. As a result they never complete a course of study.
March 10th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Many students are in a quandry. They must be enrolled full-time to be eligible for federal aid, but they also need to work full-time to help pay for family responsibilities. Some also need to be enrolled full-time to remain on their families’ health insurance.
How can non-traditional sudents invest 48 to 72 hours in college, while working nearly 40 hours per week (plus in many cases, child care), basic life support (commuting, cooking, cleaning, sleeping, + relationships), and stay awake, let alone be successful students?
March 10th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Working at a large midwest college, it is clear to me that we are trying to force everyone to have a college education, whether they have the aptitude or not. I see it every day — students who have talents in other areas and yet feel they have to try to get a degree in order to guarantee that they can get a job. Not only that, most work entirely too many hours while trying to go to school and I am sure there workplace is not being given justice anymore than their studies. It’s societies problem — not a people problem. By trying to push square pegs into round holes, we do everyone a disservice.
March 11th, 2010 at 8:15 am
It appears, along with all the assessment movement from accrediting bodies, that we are more concerned with form than substance, again. The rate of graduation should be less important than the skills obtained during the college/university experience. Skills like critical thinking, the ability to form questions on issues and find answers, the ability to communicate in writing and orally, etc. Once again, the 21st Century of Form over Substance has hit again. Graduation Rates should be viewed only with a grain of salt… ie… what kind of education did the student receive, not how much. Plus, not everyone is capable of a college education, and we are pressed to “dumb down” educational criteria so that the ones who can barely tie their shoes, if they are out of flip flops, can also get a degree.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:03 am
I agree with M. Tabatcher and David Woods. I would also add this. Are we now making a college degree an entitlement, which would make it a minimum requirement for most jobs? That would seem to cheapen the degree earned by those who worked hard to earn it. We need to face facts that not everyone is college material. Everyone has an aptitude to contribute in some valuable way, and for some that may not involve a college degree.