There are several reasons that students leave before graduation. One reason is that life happens requiring students to leave school to attend to family emergencies including supporting the family. Another reason is that the students expectation were not clearly defined by admissions representatives. Some students are steered into programs that they do not want. Sometimes the student are in classrooms that do not engage them, so they get bored. Mostly, the student was not prepared for the school committment.
Students leave schools because their expectations are not being met, or that the instruction is not exciting. Many students do have outside obstacles, but when their expectations are not being met, they are more likely to leave when an outside obstacles pops up.
One of the most common reasons for withdrawal from school relates to expectations. Admissions Representatives may not stress the rigor of the program (both for academics and attendance) or the student avoids asking the questions about conditions most related to their areas of weakness. With incomplete or inaccurate expectations, these students get into the first quarter of school and struggle. Failure tends to beget failure, so students stop giving their full commitment and eventually stop attending.
Admission reps don't delve into why they are making a decision to go to college. If they ask more questions about what hurdels they might have to over come while they are a student. What could they be dealing with right now. Is this why they are making this choice. Reps and other departments need to make students know the college has they're best interest at heart.
A variety of reasons:
1. Quality of instructors
2. Time commitment vs. real life
3. They feel they are not getting enough for their investment
4. Personal reasons
5. Interests change
6. Financial aid is not what they expected
Crystal,
Thank you for your response. Have you thought of ways to help students avoid making having to make this decision?
Cindy Bryant
In my opinion most students withdraw from our institution before graduating is usually because of time. Many students feel that can utilize their time better by working, or being with their family. Students that withdraw state that they must have a job to keep the lights on, and if it is a choice between the lights on, and school, the answer is lights on for their situation.
Rachael,
Students at my institution face similar challenges with the required homework and work and family responsibilities. They struggle to fit in their school work.
We try to alleviate this by stressing the time commitment during the Admissions process and orientation. We discuss ways to help the students manage their time and provide tools to help them map it out visually.
Rachael,
While I fully understand the plight of the student, how can schools help them overcome these obstacles? I would encourage participants to share their best practices in student services.
Cindy Bryant
The time requirement. As part of the DOE regulations, a student must complete two hours of homework, we call it out-of-class activites, for every credit hour a course is worth. Most of our students are single parents and/or work a full-time job. When you have to committ 40 hours or more to school, it is hard to maintain a full-time job on top of that.
