Kelly,
Hi! Welcome to the forum. Does your school offer any type of referral program for student services?
Cindy Bryant
I believe a lot of student's withdraw from my institution due to personal reasons. Many of our students are parents that cannot find the proper care for their children and the student suffers the consequence of not finishing their schooling. I also believe students get worried about committing to a program and panic and feel the best way to handle that is to drop from the institution.
Jason,
I thought I would share that many people thought that there would be a "huge" impact on retention rates due to the new federal guidelines. To date there have been limited data to support this theory.
As long as our student demographic remains the underserved they will more than likely bring unique challenges to the table, such as: single parenting, lack of support system, lower paying jobs. This will force them to make decisions that may keep them from pursuing education.
Cindy Bryant
I see students leave for a variety of reasons. At my school, students often have to quit because of financial reasons. Many of the students are not working while going to school and those who have to do both find that the demands of the program are too great coupled with working, often full time.
Another reason is that some of the students are not prepared for the rigorous academics and become overwhelmed and do poorly in their coursework.
Sterling,
You are giving your students great advice. The loan process delays the inevitable which is the fact that sometimes you have to make money as opposed to following a dream. However, you can pursue your educational dream at a slower pace and still make money.
Cindy Bryant
There are many reasons that students in our institution withdraw from our program before they graduate. In many cases, the students have financial hardships which lead to housing issues, inability to afford food, and difficulties with finding reliable transportation. This is due to the fact that many of our students live from paycheck to paycheck and a slight disruption in their work schedule, to make room for school, can have a great impact on their financial success. I have had some students approach me about taking out a loan to make ends meet while they're in school. I strongly discourage them from doing this, because in the long run, this is not in the student's best interest. I remind them that any loans that they take out will have to be repaid, plus interest; and our goal is to minimize the amount of loans a student borrows so that they do not have as much to repay when they finish school.
Dayanis,
On every campus time is spent analyzing data to better understand why students leave school. Maybe it is time to look at what we do right by analyzing the students that remain. Could this be the key to our success??
Cindy Bryant
Alainna,
Hi! How can you best assist students to overcome their own personal obstacles?
Cindy Bryant
Our most common reason for withdrawal is the inability for students to overcome personal obstacles while maintaining their school work. They become in engrossed in what is keeping them from what they want and fall victim to it instead of working around it to acheive their goals.
From mine experience I have notice here at school that some student to not have the skills to take on education and deal with issues in their personal life. Ther think that is too much going on in threre persdonal life and school at the same time and that can be hard and can be a little owerwhrlm for them.
Well I think for student withdraw have to be passing with some problem and they feel that is too much with school and they personal life
Many times students have not been enrolled in school for a long period of times so as a returning student it may become a bit challenging for them to get accustomed to the idea of studying and most importantly learning how to study and so they can become fustrated once they see their first test scores and automatically come to a conclusion that this field is not for them.
Nyssa,
You bring up interesting points for discussion. I would like to respond to the adherence of rules and regulations. It is hard to pinpoint exactly when students were not held liable for their actions in school. When "No student Left Behind" was enacted many educators interpreted it to be a vehicle to pass students along. When this occurs and the student is then faced with an educational obstacle they become very frustrated and their defense is to give up.
Cindy Bryant
There are a number of reasons that cause student drops. But the ones that seem the most prevalent are: the academic challenge becomes too great and attendance becomes a problem, and school/life balance issues.
In the case of academic/attendance issues, I believe many students were not expected to adhere to attendance standards back in high school, and sub-par academic work was not addressed. There were no consequences for neglecting one's studies, or being absent from school. When these problems are neglected in high school, too frequently the student doesn't realize the career school may have exacting standards - and becomes frustrated when we do.
In the case of school/life balance, a frequent problem is providing child care, since day care is unfortunately private and unaffordable for many people; another dilemma that is becoming more common is lack of transportation.
In most circumstances that I have seen most students withdraw for financial reasons. Most of them have lost jobs and are now forced to take jobs that will not work with a school schedule.
Another group of students we see are those students who were pushed by parents to enroll. Students need to be fully committed in order to complete the program.
Susan,
When people feel that their family is threatened they go into survival mode. They prioritize based on basic needs such as, shelter, food and clothing. Unfortunately education may not fit into their immediate needs. I agree that as long as people know that you care about them they will eventually return to school when the time is right.
Cindy Bryant
Students enroll and withdraw for many reasons. The most typical reasons I have discovered lately center mostly around job or family related issues. Even though students know that the successful completion of their education would benefit them, maintaining a current job is important. During these economic times, many employees are being asked to do more with limited resources and this takes time away from the student for their own educational growth. The same is true about family circumstances. Ultimately, if the school treats the student right even when they withdraw, my experience has been that they will return when they have time.
In the case of my institution, financial reasons are usually behind most dropouts. In our school, students come from a wide variety of countries form all around the world, and we cannot offer them financial aid the way a regular student from the US would be able to enjoy.
Jane,
Welcome to the forum! Many students are not aware that they must put forth strong effort to master the subject matter and they need to be encouraged by the faculty and staff.
Cindy Bryant
Students pass the Wonderlick entrance exam and then have trouble with SAP by not putting in the effort that is needed -- either by studing at home or asking questions to instructors. to keep up their SAP. We are very focused on science-related areas and they sometimes think that they don't have to put in the study time.
We always stress great study habits and even have a free class.
Also, it seems to be the tendency for them not to put their "home" or "social" lives on hold while at school and that draws their attention away from where it should be.
