Dropping Retention Rates

Ajit Vakharia

According to data released by the ACT this year, the retention rates for colleges nationwide have dropped to 65.7 percent from 68.7 percent the year before. The ACT though is not able to measure if the other 35.3 percent are just taking time off from college, transferring schools, or if those students have in fact dropped out. Cliff Adelman, a longtime education department researcher, says, “the data is meaningless.” The fact remains that the nationally average retention rate is 65.7 percent which means 35.3 percent of students are not returning back to the same institute where they were the year before. Institutes need to do more to bring back students. According to Doug Lederman of Insider Higher Education, there are three main reasons why students do not return to an institute: the student drops out, the student transfers, or the student is just taking time off from school.

Schools need to start implementing new plans on keeping students in their institutes. More tutoring programs can be started to prevent students from dropping out. A lot of students drop out because they are not adequately prepared for college, so tutoring can help them prepare for school and motivate students to do better. Many students transfer because they do not feel comfortable in the school they are in. If schools start more programs to get students involved and become a part of student culture, students would be less likely to leave and transfer to different schools. A lot of students are forced to take time off from school for a year or two just because they cannot afford tuition and need time to save up money. If institutes put some money aside for students in need of the financial aid, students would not be forced to take time off from school to save the money up. If colleges could implement such programs and opportunities, the retention rates for a lot of universities and institutes would increase because students would have less of a reason to leave.