Finishing College

It is a sad fact that an unreasonable percentage of students who enter colleges never graduate. These students often wind up burdened with loans for an education they never finished, and therefore without the income multiplier effect of the college degree that enables the capability to pay off those school loans. In light of this challenge, The Ohio State University has taken it upon itself to develop a course to help its most at-risk students successfully navigate the journey to a full degree.

Students in academic difficulty who took the “Learning and Motivation Strategies” course in their first quarter at Ohio State were about 45 percent more likely to graduate within six years than similar students who didn’t take the class.

Average-ability students who took the course were also six times more likely to stay in college for a second year and had higher grade point averages than those who didn’t take the class.

“We are taking the students who are least likely to succeed in college and teaching them the skills they need to stay in school and graduate,” said Bruce Tuckman, a professor of education at Ohio State, and creator of the course. - ScienceDaily

In large state university systems, there is a "sink or swim" environment for many students. Too many students find themselves over their heads in their first year of college, and give up the dream of a college degree. America needs more college graduates, and the majority of kids who start college can and should finish college. That's what's best for them, and what's best for our society.

Maybe there will come a day when we have more college grads than we need, and the smartest high schoolers will compete to get into the best trade schools. But at the moment only about a third of American adults have graduated from college, and the economy appears to have room for many more.

College graduates earn considerably more money over their careers than non-college graduates. They have more choices about what to do with their lives, and much more flexibility if they change their minds about what is best for them. If a Hamilton College graduate with a degree in English literature decides she would prefer to become a fry cook or a midwife or a farmer, she can develop those skills relatively quickly as a paid assistant or apprentice, and still enjoy writing poetry in her spare time. But if that same young woman is told in high school that she just isn't college material, and accepts a more menial job after graduation, a late-blooming desire to earn a degree in English literature from Hamilton is going to be much more difficult, expensive and time-consuming. - Jay Mathews, The Washington Post

Virginia is in the midst of a remarkable expansion of its higher education system. The number of students applying to and going to Virginia's state colleges and universities is growing. Our commonwealth will benefit if a majority of these student successfully complete their degrees, as the greater opportunities they will have as a result will benefit our tax base, our civic polity and family life state-wide.

Virginia would do well, as a state, to examine whether a similar course should be offered at schools like UVA, Tech, VCU, and ODU, for the benefit of our future.