Why Do Qualified Secondary Students Not Complete College

A puzzle surrounds the static percentage of college completion despite burgeoning college enrollment in the past 20 years.  In our book, From High School to College, Andrea Venezia and I speculated about how college non-completion was caused by different factors such as preparedness, cost, time management, personal commitment and so on.  We know a lot of non-completion is caused by a lack of preparation, but how much?  No one knows this, but there is an interesting new study on college costs by the Advisory Commission on Student Financial Assistance, a nonpartisan panel that advises Congress.  They concluded that in the 1990s between 800,000 and 1.6 million low and moderate high school students who were both academically qualified for and intent on attending a four year college did not earn a bachelor’s degree.  Note the study tried to include only students who were well prepared.  All of the students in the study completed algebra II or trigonometry.  These mathematics courses are crucial predictors of college completion in studies by Clifford Adelman, formerly with the U.S. Department of Education.  Moreover, all the students in 10th and 12th grade planned to get a bachelor’s degree.

 

.  Even though students fail to move through the higher education  system for many reasons,  this  study includes only students for whom finances were the deciding factor in not getting a  4 year degree. 

 

I am not sure this study controls for all factors that cause non-completion, but inadequate finance is clearly a major factor. Now we need a study that examines how many students do not get degrees because of inadequate academic preparation. This also will be hard to measure precisely because student commitment to study and persevere is also an important factor in college completion. Subsequent blog entries will discuss even more factors that make up the puzzle of college completion.

5 comments on “Why Do Qualified Secondary Students Not Complete College”

  1. “I am not sure this study controls for all factors that cause non-completion, but inadequate finance is clearly a major factor. Now we need a study that examines how many students do not get degrees because of inadequate academic preparation”. Ok, I agree that these will be factors as to why a student may drop out of college but how many students who drop out of college are contacted x years later?

    Almost 50% of entrepreneurs left school at 16, so being proportionate to age relative to how many may logically realise at a later date, i.e: college, that they are going to do something entrepreneurial? I would agree to anyone who says this % would be lower than 50, but I felt it was worth pointing out that leaving college due to inspiration lead elsewhere is not always going to be a conceptually “bad” thing.

    If a study of a large range of 1000 students were followed up some years later to explore the paths they chose, I would be interestedin that study. What you have outlined could be very difficult to quantify.

  2. Advantageously, the article is actually the greatest on this valuable topic. I agree with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your next updates. Just saying thanks will not just be adequate, for the fantasti c lucidity in your writing. I will instantly grab your rss feed to stay privy of any updates.Authentic work and much success in your business efforts!Thanks.

  3. Financial is a big factor in students who are stopping in college. The fee of course increases regularly and the one paying for it cannot cope with it anymore. That is a very common factor and I could say main factor. But being not ready for college could be another factor, going to college is not a simple thing. Studying in college and in HS is compatibly different, because going to college is harder, way much harder.

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  4. Even though students fail to move through the higher education system for many reasons, this study includes only students for whom finances were the deciding factor in not getting a 4 year degree. What is computer


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