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Name: Nguyen Ngoc Linh Chi

Student ID: 1611140011
Instructor: Nguyen Hoang Giang
Course: CO150
Date 2017/09/24

LOW GRADUATION RATE OF U.S. COLLEGE STUDENTS

CAUSES AND SOLUTION

In 2016, National Center for Education Statistics published a report on graduation rates of

students who started a four-year college in 2009.

The U.S. colleges graduation rates of students of 2009 by NCES

The graph above showed the Graduation Rate within 150 percent of normal time (within

6 years) from first institution attended for first-time, full-time bachelor's degree-seeking students

at 4-year postsecondary institutions, by control of institution and sex. The number is disturbingly

low, especially when going to colleges and earning a degree is proved to be the fastest way to
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achieve success. So, what are the causes of this situation? In order to answer this question, many

research and surveys have been done. Statistics have shown that there are three reasons primarily

accounted for this phenomenon.

The first reason is because of the students themselves: they leave colleges because they

feel like they are not ready to be there. These students can be divided into two smaller groups.

The first group contains of students who are not prepared academically, as proved by statistic:

nearly 60 percent of first year college students have to take remedial classes. However, these

classes, expected to act as a college- or career-ready course of study and would benefit students,

brought them nothing but burden, and as a result, they dropped. The other group are students

who arent emotionally prepared for college. The typical concept for this is that the students

would get overwhelmed by all they have to do, they get anxious and they disengage, stop doing

their work or going to class altogether, and soon their grades are a mess, and they have to come

home.

Another cause of the falling graduation rate of college students is that students, after

working hard to get into college, find out that the school they have chosen is not the right one for

them. A report published by Public Agenda, a nonprofit research group, showed that two-thirds

of the students who drop out of colleges selected their school primarily for its convenient

location, nearly six in 10 because its schedule worked with theirs, and 57 percent because the

tuition and fees were affordable. These students do not have a clear orientation when choosing a

college to learn for the next four years, so instead of choosing the college because it was a good

academic or cultural fit, they chose their college for practical reasons. As a consequence, after

struggling there for a short period of time, they found it hard to continue and then withdrew from

the course.
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The third reason, also proved to be the main reason by Public Agenda, that leads to

students leaving college is money. Tuition fees of American universities are known to be among

the highest in the world, considering the expensive payment for high-quality human and non-

human resources. Even though this promises an adequate learning experience, it still puts a

heavy burden on a large number of students. There are three common ways for underprivileged

students to get through this obstacle: Finding a part-time job, Asking for loans, or Withdrawing

from their college dreams.

Having part-time jobs is of great benefit as it not only solves a part of the students

financial problems but also offers them experiences and social skills which will be very helpful

in the future. However, most jobs require working at least 20 hours per week, implying that they

have to spend 6-7 hours in school and nearly 3 hours at work every day. This leaves the students

exhausted and impossible to both learn and work with efficiency. Despite their best efforts, the

stress of trying to do both eventually took its toll. They have to choose between studying and

working. If the students choose to learn, there is no way they can pay for the sky-high college

cost. If they choose to work, they would fail to meet course requirement, and end up not earning

a proper degree, which is their original intention. They get lost in their way to achieve their

dream.

There are two main types of student loans: Federal loans and Private loans. Federal loans

are loans offered by the government, and have a very low interest rate, unlike Private loans

offered by schools, of which the interest rate is much higher. Unfortunately, no matter how low

the interest rate may be, a loan is still a loan. It leaves the students a fear of the great amount of

money they have to pay and makes universities experience nothing but a clock tickling until they

graduate. It exhorts students to spend excessive time working outside of schools with a view to
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earn enough money to pay for a part of the huge debt. This creates the same consequences with

the first way of solving students financial problem - getting a job and work part-time.

As seen from the information above, higher education is facing a real problem with

graduation rates as there are many obstacles getting in the students ways to earn a degree.

Although the reasons for dropping out vary, the consequences of the decision are remarkably

similar: Over a lifetime, dropouts typically earn less, suffer from poorer health as adults, and are

more likely to wind up in jail than their diploma-earning peers. This decreases the living standard

of not only the dropouts but also the whole society. Therefore, solutions to solve this problem

need to be provided.

Since cost is the main reason that accounts for students dropping out of universities, a

solution to deal with this is of great importance. I recommend a strategy of creating a scholarship

to provide help for students who have financial difficulties. The scholarship is designed to create

the underprivileged students an opportunity to achieve their college desire. This, at the same

time, promises The United States an age of prosperity and growth as human resources get more

and more qualified. This scholarship is gift aid and do not have to be repaid, and is awarded

based on the students financial need, and by the Office of Student Financial Services of

universities. Since many students are bearing a heavy burden of high university tuition and fees,

which is the main cause for the falling in college graduation rates, this scholarship will help to

remove obstacles for these students and provide the vital support needed to help them overcome

financial difficulties and achieve their dreams.

To conclude, the low graduation rate of U.S. universities is a serious problem we have to

face up to. There are many factors contributes to this, but money is the biggest factor. By

providing scholarships for students having financial difficulties, we might give these students a
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chance to complete their college courses, which brings benefits to both our students and

universities, as well as the society.

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Works cited

Matthiessen, Connie. Why are so many college students returning home?.

Great!Schools.org, 17 Apr. 2017.

Messacar, Dereck and Oreopoulos, Philip. Staying in School: A Proposal for Raising

High-School Graduation Rates. Issues.org, n.d.

The Condition of Education, 2017 (NCES 2017-144): Undergraduate Retention and

Graduation Rates. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.

nces.ed.gov. n.p, n.d.