In a letter published by the National Commission on Higher Education Attainment last week, college leaders recommended that schools begin to research measures on increasing completion rates in order to achieve the national goal of creating a skilled workforce. With financial barriers largely contributing to the college “drop-out crisis,” leaders have responded with advice that can be used to tackle low retention rates among the nation’s universities.
Assembled of six higher education associations, The National Commission on Higher Education Attainment suggested that colleges begin to focus on raising the 46 percent of students who complete colleges within six years. Not only do leaders advise that students finish earlier than six years, but colleges should also begin to structure designated retention rate programs. The Commission relied on three areas of reform: changing campus culture, improving cost-effectiveness, and improving the use of research and data.
Currently, the reform in higher education has relied too heavily on college accessibility and affordability, as noted in the letter. As a result, many institutions are neglecting students after their entrance into institutions and failing to offer progression assistance.
E. Gordon Gee, president of Ohio State University and chair of the Commission, explained, “This letter is a renewed call for collective and immediate action at a pivotal moment for higher education.”
Gee directed college leaders and claimed, “We believe every institution must pay as much attention to the number of degrees it grants—completion—as it does to success in admissions and recruitment.”
The Commission recommended that the first of many immediate actions would be to create a student-centered culture. In order to do so, Gee, along with other college presidents, advised that each Institution nominate a dean or executive member to control and oversee the retention rates associated with each school. Adhering to the needs of the students and initiating school-specific research around how to maintain enrollment were priority items for all colleges.
In starting research around retention rates, the Commission found the majority of students attending higher education institutions typically are nontraditional students whether they are classified as first-generation students, adult learners, or are merely students coming from lower-income families. With such perplexing data, the discourse concerning completion rates began to accommodate the needs of nontraditional students as a whole.
