Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Op-ed: College retention is everyone’s challenge

  • Other
  • by David Johnston
  • March 27, 2014
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

For generations past, graduation from high school was adequate and more or less guaranteed employability at a living wage. College was for the rich and otherwise privileged minority on their way to a business or professional career, and to continued advantage.

That division of labor, well-suited to an economy in need of many trainable entry-level employees, no longer meets our economic and social needs. Education and skill requirements for an increasing number of 21st century jobs continue to escalate.

Op-ed submit bugThe good news is that as a nation we have responded. Two-thirds of high school graduates enroll in some form of higher education in nearly 5,000 public and private colleges, universities and technical career programs – a much higher percentage than in other industrialized nations. More than half of these students attend community colleges.

The bad news is that retention, sometimes called “persistence,” is not good, perhaps reflecting the “retail” nature of higher education in the U.S.  Too many challenged, first generation and under-represented students do not make it to campus after being admitted somewhere, in Connecticut and the nation.

They experience “summer melt” for many reasons, most of which make sense when examined case-by-case. Equally troubling, one-third of community college students do not make it to their second year (third semester); and less than half graduate from a degree program within six years. In addition, less than 10 percent of students who begin higher education in “developmental” (remedial) courses make it to a technical certificate or four-year degree that could lead to a job good enough to pay their bills, including college loan debts. Many such young adults end up chasing an ever more competitive, low-wage job market with little room for advancement to a “living wage” – a raging Connecticut and national debate.

We cannot afford these outcomes and sustain a healthy economy. We must do better to broaden the benefits of higher education.

Where is progress being made? Although money is not everything, and personal circumstances can be overwhelming, many cities in Connecticut and nationally are developing “promise programs” that offer college scholarships for students who stick to their Ps and Qs to make it through high school, and begin higher education with a scholarship. Students, of course, need to be serious about their studies, personal and family challenges notwithstanding, whether in third, eighth or 11 grade, and when they set foot on a campus. More such funding is needed.

The College Board has also modified the SAT to make it more user-friendly for challenged students; and the Khan Academy’s free, on-line SAT prep program will help level the playing field for students whose families cannot afford expensive SAT prep programs.

At the next level, many colleges in Connecticut and elsewhere are working with high schools and community agencies to “bridge” the transition from high school to college, including college faculty working with high school faculty on “curriculum alignment,” reducing “the summer melt” when all too many high school graduates, especially from our cities, already accepted into some form of higher education, do not matriculate.

In addition, an increasing number of counselors, advisers and mentors, typically working for community-based agencies, help such youth get accepted at an appropriate school, secure financial aid, survive the “summer before” paperwork challenge and survive their freshman year. Such “seamless counseling” will one day be routine, but now it is the exception.

In Connecticut and nationally, a few organizations – including Career Beginnings in Hartford, Higher Edge in New London and Bridgeport Public Education Fund in Bridgeport — are chartered and funded to continue to work with challenged students, often first generation, all the way through college, even into employment.

Adult education programs, part of local school systems, are increasingly working with community colleges to help older, “adult learners” begin, or return to, college through intensive, remedial efforts.

The state has gotten into the act by passing a controversial bill, PA12-40, that allows public colleges and universities to provide intensive remedial “crash” courses, and then requires those schools to allow admitted students, even those whose placement tests are sub-par, to enroll in credit courses, in part to raise their expectations and to get them to apply their precious financial aid to credit-earning work.

Once on campus, more schools are encouraging, and at the state’s public universities, requiring entering students to take a “first-year experience” course to build hard and soft college survival skills. More schools are developing creative ways to have anxious freshmen bond with their campuses through such courses, participation in themed “learning communities,” and “intrusive” freshman counseling and beyond. They try to make sure that each entering student is known personally by at least one significant adult, be they teacher or counselor. Many schools now employ upperclassmen to be “peer mentors” to facilitate such bonding and problem-solving. Many schools also help incoming students connect to a career interest early on, a proven factor in higher retention.

While these newer approaches are more common at the state’s public universities, Connecticut’s 12 community colleges would use more of them if they could afford to do that, something that is not possible in the current fiscal environment that has seen state funding for these schools decline in recent years. That might be changing now.

Perhaps some of these young adults, and even older adults seeking to better themselves by revisiting higher educational opportunities, should not try, but we owe it to them and our economy to help them try. Much has to happen in K-12 school systems, of course, but higher educational institutions inherit whatever achievement gaps their entering students possess and need to move relentlessly to increase retention.

Higher education, of many types, should be the norm for most high school graduates if employers are to find enough skilled employees.

David Johnston of West Hartford is director of the Center for Higher Education Retention Excellence, a program partnership of The Hartford Consortium for Higher Education.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Johnston

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Best of 2019: Key Dems press bill to increase minority recruitment at Coast Guard Academy
by Ana Radelat

The bill is a response to allegations of discrimination and a racially hostile environment at the school.

Navy cuts number of EB Virginia-class subs in new contract
by Ana Radelat

Electric Boat wanted the Navy to include 10 subs, and possibly 11, in the so-called "Block 5" contract. But the Navy agreed to only nine.

Electric Boat facing mounting challenges as sub work ramps up
by Ana Radelat

There continue to be concerns about EB’s ability to build the new Columbia-class submarine alongside its smaller Virginia-class attack subs.

Talk of gun violence, little else
by Paul Stern

In national politics last week there was talk of little else than gun violence, white nationalism and gun control following the fatal shootings of 31 people in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. There was little more than talk, too.

Politics and the ‘dark psychic force of collectivized hatred’
by Paul Stern

President Donald Trump insists he is not a racist, but 51 percent of Americans believe he is, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week. Certainly his “send her back” comments about Somalia-born U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and last week’s jabs at U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Baltimore did nothing to dispel that […]

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Fitness is part of Connecticut’s COVID solution
by David Humphrey

Based on what we now know about infection rates and transmission, it is more apparent than ever before that gyms, fitness centers, and the physical and mental health benefits of exercise are essential to help our state get through the months ahead.

Opinion Connecticut can’t afford state government-run health insurance
by Mike Licamele

As much as I support strengthening and improving healthcare, I do not believe SB 842 is the way to do that. Instead of trying to force Connecticut residents into a new, government-controlled healthcare system, lawmakers should focus on improving our existing one by building on what’s working and continuing to address lowering costs, not raising taxes

Opinion Disabled, marginalized, stalled and walled
by Doris Maldonado

As a bilingual health information specialist for PATH P2P Family Voices CT and National Family Voices Cultural Responsiveness Telehealth Team, I offer more than professional expertise as well as despair for the marginalized within marginalized communities. I am a Latina with disabilities, adoptive mother of 17-year-old twins with special needs and a thriving toddler.

Opinion The marijuana legalization debate must be based on facts
by Will Jones III

In response to my earlier piece on why Connecticut lawmakers should reject marijuana commercialization,  Brendan Ruberry wrote a rebuttal that, on its face seems scathing, but to be clear, the attempted rebuttal falls flat and well off the mark.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO