EUGENE Ore.
As classes begin at Oregon public universities, higher education officials hope to reduce a dropout rate that likely will result in the loss of 2,200 of 10,400 incoming freshmen before their sophomore year.
The percentage of freshmen who quit between fall 2005 and fall 2006 ranged from 31 percent at Eastern Oregon University to 15 percent at the University of Oregon.
Nationally, about 25 percent of first-time students at four-year public colleges quit before their sophomore year, according to federal and state officials.
After getting $142 million in new money from the Legislature, Oregon campus leaders are responding with initiatives to slow the steady drain of new students from state universities.
“We want to not only get them in, we want to get them through,” said Susan Weeks, vice chancellor for strategic programs and planning in the university system. “It doesn’t do our goal of having a highly educated population any good if you can’t get them through.”
The universities are boosting student support services such as tutoring and advising, giving students more opportunities to interact with faculty and intervening earlier when students are in trouble.
