Reasons Why College Students Dropout

College dropout rates are simply astonishing, with freshman dropout rates taking the lead. In the last few years, these rates have skyrocketed among all age groups. Some suspect it all starts freshman year. I wanted to know why the freshman dropout numbers have skyrocketed in the last few years, so I decided to pursue the question, what should colleges do in order to resolve this enormous problem? This question should be researched and answered because obtaining a degree is extremely important when attempting to get a job. Colleges and universities seem to be genuinely concerned with these numbers, but somehow the numbers keep increasing. Over the years, students dropping out of college and university has become no big deal and it almost

I found the Peterson’s Blog: The Real Guide to Colleges and Universities website. Within the website I found the article “Top 11 Reasons Why College Students Dropout: Don’t Let it Happen to You.” The article lists several of the most common reasons why college students dropout of colleges and universities. The reasons include education costing too much, the need for a full time job in order to pay for college, and family issues. The list also covers too much stress and lack of knowledge of a major. The last reasons that the list covers include being unprepared for the work, not having a sense of belonging, too much fun outside of class, and the lack of advising. Another surprising fact according to Collegeatlas.org is “being unable to balance school, jobs, and family is cited as one of the top reasons for dropping out of

I began to research the effects advising has on retention and graduation rates, which led me to an article discussing a study conducted by Stanford University School of Education. The study researched the effects academic “coaching” has on graduation and retention rates. The academic coaching includes guidance on different things including time management skills and goal setting. The research had a shocking outcome: “researchers calculated a 10-percent to 15-percent increase in retention rates among those who had received coaching and mentoring.” The researchers understood that colleges would want to know how much it would cost the university to provide better “academic coaching,” so they researched that as well. The researchers found that “not only does coaching improve the likelihood students will remain in college, but expenditures on coaching are much smaller than the costs of other methods to encourage persistence in college.” After reading and researching programs that colleges with high retention and graduation rates use, I have concluded that colleges and universities must take a little piece of each successful program to create the program that works best for them. Not only that, but colleges and universities must not be afraid to spend money on helping their students succeed, because as many of the studies showed, not only do the programs benefit the student, but