Research studies conducted by us and other colleagues shows that between 20% and 35% of students drop out of college after the first and second year of their enrollment. The financial cost associated with dropout is a function of the total enrollment, the attrition rate, and the tuition fees. For an total enrollment of 5000 students, an attrition rate of 30%, and an annual average tuition of $ 20,000.00, the annual cost of attrition (dropout) is $ 15 million. This loss does not appear in the University budget, because it is hidden, and it is totally neglected.
We pose the following question:
1. Is dropout correlated with the quality of the academic and administrative systems (Admission, Registration, Academic Advising, Student Affairs, Career Advising), or is it due to the students'' personal reasons (financial, social status, etc.), of a combination of both? We believe that Academic Advising plays a strong role in increasing retention.
Nabeel A Murshed Many students cited personal reasons for quitting school, such as the necessity to find work, motherhood, or caring for family members. Nearly half (45%) said their previous education had not adequately prepared them for high school.
Previo cordial saludo, considero que es la mezcla de varios factores entre los institucionales, profesionales (orientación profesional, motivación, etc.), hasta las razones personales de esa etapa de vida. Por ello considero modestamente que debe organizarse de forma sistémica la atención desde acciones a nivel de universidad con procesos de acompañamiento a nivel de año y, tutoría a nivel de grupo estudiantil sobre la base de un buen diagnóstico (que además se debe mantener actualizado) para el ajuste e intercambio constante con los estudiantes.
Researchers in their work on student retention pointed to the impact of institutional structures on the rates of first-year student retention, stating that specific programs, courses, classroom policies – as well as the strategies that academic advisors decide to use – are important factors in retention initiatives.
Both academic and non-academic factors impact freshman and sophomore students' persistence, hence both factors need to be addressed.
Moreover, if a student is considered to be among those who are at risk due to, for example, being a first generation student or coming from a low social status in addition to facing academic difficulties, this may increase the student risk of dropping out.
Numerous studies conducted showed the importance of academic advising. The the advising approach used, the amount of time the academic advisor spend with the student, the number of students assigned to the academic advisor, all play a role in the quality of the academic advising provided.
Hello-
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this subject. Our latest findings confirm that retention and dropout rates among first- and second-year students are influenced by the admission and academic advising. We have found that students enrolled with High School Scores above 80% are failing in their preparatory courses.
I believe that making black-and-white analyses does not help to solve or get a more complete picture of the problem at hand, which is very complex. Nor does it help when analyses are made without taking into account the social and historical context. I think that there should be highly professional staff in universities who provide excellent training in a context that helps students with personal and economic reasons. Without such a balance, it is difficult to achieve a more accurate representation of reality and its processes involving people with different interests. Believing that academic counseling is an important variable can lead to overlooking other equally or more important variables such as the students' representation of the degree course and what it really is, the motivations they have towards the course, the professional example provided by the teaching staff or the economic elements involved.
The reasons for student attrition and dropout could be grouped under 2 categories of variables: Personal (financial and social) and Academic (admission criteria, student advising and counselling, teaching quality, and support services). This is not a black-and-white view of the problem, there is some overlapping between the 2 categories. Vincent Tinto provided an interesting view of retention and dropout: “a longitudinal process of interactions between the individual and the academic and social systems of the college during which a person’s experiences in those systems…continually modify his goals and institutional commitments in ways which lead to persistence and/or to varying forms of dropout.” The institution may not be able to control the personal variables, but it has total control of the academic variables.
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