Surviving College

Jamie Signorile

To the public, higher education is growing uncontrollably. Many experts have concentrated on observing the large amounts of students enrolling in universities. However, there is an even more important issue. In most cases attention should be given to the decreasing graduation rates, rather then the increasing enrollment.

The statistics for college graduation rates are alarming. To draw attention to one, The University of Massachusetts, Boston, has only 33 percent of their freshman graduate in six years. This is a ridiculously small amount of students. On average American universities graduate only half of their students in six years. The reasons behind these numbers are unique.

Success in college is not always dependent on the work that one does at a university, yet the preparation they have had in the past. Many students are simply not prepared for the fast pace and rigor of courses. Also, many students are just not qualified to complete college work. Those who are prepared do not have equal opportunities. According to the New York Times, about half of low income students had a H.S. GPA of 3.5 and an average SAT score of 1,200. It is obvious that these students are intelligent and can most likely succeed in college. Yet, these are the students that the N.Y. Times says are the students who did not attend the college that they could have. Many low income students who could do college work, simply cannot afford it. Some choose the lower tier schools, for various reasons, and are in an environment that has a lower standard for their graduation rates.

In addition, it seems like there are many students who simply just drop out of college. The main reason, like many things, is money. Tuition is increasing every year. It is said that 1/2 of incoming freshman borrow money to attend college. It is obvious that many students do not graduate simply because they cannot overcome the economic hurdles, while those low income students mentioned before do not even have a chance.

This is an alarming topic. It seems like there is so much hype on the statistics and numbers of incoming students, yet there has not been much alarm to the number of students who just do not make it.