The Key to College Success

Jessica Gourdon, Translated by Nina Fink Publié le
The Key to College Success
UC Berkeley - Etats-Unis - octobre 2014 // ©  Bénédicte Lassalle
American colleges and universities are plagued by a high undergraduate dropout rate. To remedy the situation, schools are employing a whole multitude of solutions, ranging from college programs in high schools to around-the-clock support for freshman and dedicated performance monitoring applications. Schools will stop at nothing to keep students on academic track.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 31% of bachelor's degree students fail to graduate within six years. That figure varies according to the school, the student's socio-economic background and whether or not he or she attends full time. The Chronicle of Higher Education places Harvard's graduation rate at 97%, whereas Chicago State University's rate is only 13%. Issues with finances, family, health, transportation and academics can all push students to drop out. Schools' approaches to reversing the trend are nearly as numerous.

One example is At Home in College, a City University of New York program that offers 12th grade students services such as college transition English courses. The classes are offered exclusively to students whose grades fall below a certain level and who attend one of At Home's 60 partner high schools. Another solution is early college high schools, which target students who have trouble making the transition to college, in particular low-income, minority and first-generation students. Participants have the chance to earn up to two years of college credit for free while pursuing their high school degree.

A urban academic village at texas southern university

To combat its high dropout rate, Texas Southern University created the Urban Academic Village. The village offers on-campus housing to 400 freshmen in the hopes of reducing transportation time and improving student integration. Additionally, students commit to completing a minimum of fifteen hours of coursework per semester, spending twelve hours per week in the 24/7 study center and participating in at least 80% of village activities.

At Paul Smith's College, 40% of students receive financial assistance. In 2010, the college adopted the application Starfish in an effort to identify under-performing students. Each student has a dedicated page where teachers and staff can track statistics on their grades, assignment completion rate and attendance. Since Starfish's implementation, the number of students who obtain their associate degree on time has risen by 17%. Faced with the dropout challenge, every bit counts.

Read the article (in French)

Jessica Gourdon, Translated by Nina Fink | Publié le