The Impossible Dream for Most First-Generation College Students

[marmar]

The Impossible Dream for Most First-Generation College Students

Sunday, 15 November 2015 00:00
By Joseph Sanacore and Anthony Palumbo, Truthout | Op-Ed


During the past 60 years, college attendance in the United States has more than tripled. This increase has been driven by society's need for technically trained students, by the need for credentialing to establish competencies, and by government action providing easier school financing. Assuming the parameters of a normal distribution curve, this attendance increase necessitates the acceptance of "marginal students," many of whom are the first in their families to attempt a college education. To succeed, these students require a closer bond with their school, in the form of specialized instruction and intensive guidance.

Unfortunately, many nonprofit schools do not provide this bond. Instead, they accept students' tuition and pay scant attention to graduation rates. As student advocates for more than three decades, we object when colleges try to balance their budgets by engaging in practices we regard as unethical. Many schools bottom lines prosper by accepting "marginal" students who qualify for loans and government-backed financial aid, but their curriculum does not provide these students with the services and programs they need to achieve success. Too many low-income students who are often first-generation students find themselves gamed when they meet with admissions counselors who help them to complete loan applications but neglect to explain the difference between being accepted to college and graduating from college - and the subsequent need for students to repay college loans even if they never earn a diploma.

We believe these schools are more concerned with tuition payments than students' welfare and learning. Many first-generation students who need academic support cannot handle college requirements and drop out, saddled with debt. This situation is reprehensible. Admissions counselors are well aware of the 4-and 6-year graduation rates of their schools, and we believe they have a professional and moral obligation to reveal this information to potential students. They should also indicate evidenced-based programs and services, if any, that are available for students and that have resulted in higher graduation rates of students at risk of dropping out. Regrettably, this type of transparency does not exist on many campuses.

Let's look at some statistics. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, some colleges have graduation rates below 30 percent, and some are even below 10 percent. New York's Long Island University, for example, has a 4-year graduation rate of 21.7 percent at its Post Campus, and an 8 percent graduation rate at its Brooklyn Campus. Similarly, New York's Mercy College has a low graduation rate of 22.9 percent. The New York State average, however, is 55.1 percent for 4-year private, not-for-profit colleges. These statistics can be catastrophic for first-generation students because whether they graduate or not, they still have loans that must be paid. We advocate that students avoid schools with graduation rates that are significantly below their state's average. These low rates suggest that college administrators take students' money with the unashamed awareness that most of these students will not graduate, and many of them will not complete their first two years successfully. ..............(more)

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/33625-the-impossible-dream-for-most-first-generation-college-students

[JonathanRackham]

1. Pick your curriculum well

Does your choice of studies have job prospets at the end of the tunnel?

Profit or non profit, colleges are all about the enrollment and not about the job potential. Some degrees are like soda, empty calories.

[Historic NY]

2. Why did they pick the schools that have the most returning to college for working adults programs...

in college or at satellite campus's . LIU-CW Post also caters to a wide variety of programs etc for returning adults. Mercy College the same has other campus's and both have graduate degree programs at them. Lower graduation rates may be the result of longer periods of study that fit into lifestyles. It skews the result
They cater to working students & adults and yes some take longer to achieve graduation.....


http://www.liu.edu/About-LIU
http://www.liu.edu/brooklyn/scs

https://www.mercy.edu/about-mercy/
https://www.mercy.edu/admissions/first-time-freshmen
https://www.mercy.edu/admissions/adult

I've attended both and hold a BS/BA from Mercy my grad degree came from CUNY...

[Igel]

3. Because they had a point they wanted to prove.

And for that, they basically pick the data that support their point.

Anecdotes aren't data. But if you misuse data, you can certainly reduce them to the quality of anecdote.

Note also the shift: The rhetoric has always been about access and opportunity. Now it's about the "access" to completion and the "opportunity" to graduate. 1st gen folk have always had it harder. It's easier now for 1st gen college attendees to graduate than ever before, but that doesn't stoke the outrage.