College Completion Shortfall

In 2009, College Complete America was organized by folks like the Lumina Foundation, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Ford Foundation to help increase the number of students who complete college in a timely manner.

They identify a number of problems that are contributing to the problem:

To name only a few of the many reasons: inadequate academic preparation, poorly designed and delivered remediation, broken credit transfer policies, confusing financial aid programs, a culture that rewards enrollment instead of completion, and a system too often out of touch with the needs of the today’s college student. (http://www.completecollege.org/completion_shortfall/)

Their hope is to change state policies to focus on graduation (not enrollment) and knock down impediments to graduation.

It is hard for me to be too critical of this kind of agenda as I want all of my students to succeed. I don't really quibble with their general strategy even for accomplishing this.

I do want to note a few curious items that tend to get omitted from their discussion:

(1) America is pretty anti-intellectual. Having more college graduates who don't read and lack curiosity and critical thinking skills are not going to help us compete economically. I think (although I am not supporting it here) that a college degree is much more than a mere device to improve employment possibilities or earning power. It is about critical thinking, innovation, and being a good citizen. We really need to change America's understanding about college. I just don't see this group succeeding in this when they adopt essentially corporate rhetoric about education. They seem to be viewing the degree as the end, rather than the importance of the habits of mind developed and the relationships nourished during a college career.

(2) Many students struggle to graduate because they can't afford it - either in monetary terms or opportunity cost. Between the economic, family, and health care catastrophes I regularly hear about, the problem is not always government red tape.

(3) I wonder if the increase in overpaid and overworked adjuncts play any role in why graduation completion rates remain a problem. Folks with little connection to their institution, teaching too many students, and little job security probably are not the best people to respond to this crisis. (This is not to say that adjunct instructors are not good at what they do, they just can't always create the kind of relationships that many students need to help them graduate).

I like where this organization is heading and some of the steps they are taking. I just wish they were tackling some of these other challenges as well. When education is generally de-valued and students are not healthy or safe, we will struggle to succeed in our educational goals.