California spent nearly half a billion on college freshmen who later dropped out, study finds

[alp227]

Source: Los Angeles Times

At a time when California's public colleges are battling to maintain state funding, a report says that over a five-year period, the state spent nearly half a billion dollars to educate first-year college students who dropped out before their sophomore year.

The report found that California ranked first in the nation in the amount of taxpayer funds — $467 million — spent on students at four-year colleges who failed to return for a second year. Texas, with $441 million, and New York, with $403 million, ranked second and third.

The study, prepared by the Washington-based American Institutes for Research, analyzed federal data on retention rates at hundreds of four-year colleges and universities and states' education funding between 2003 and 2008.

Nationally, about 30% of first-year students do not return for a second year. At California public colleges, the dropout rate is about half that.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-college-study-20101011,0,1357854.story

[The Second Stone]

1. So does that mean that the knowledge they gained during that

time was destroyed?

[WVRICK13]

18. I Would Like To See

how many of the students who don't come back to school immediately actually return later in life. I know when I was teaching at a University I had lots of students who came back in their late 20s and 30s after completing their freshman year after high school.

[sandnsea]

2. American Graduation Initiative

Part of Jill Biden's recently convened White House Summit on Community Colleges

"Dr. Jill Biden convened the first White House Summit On Community Colleges, ushering in a new era where high school students are no longer thrown into the work force ill-trained and ill-prepared. In the near future, jobs in fields which require at least an associate degree are projected to grow twice as fast as those requiring no college experience, and 8 of 10 jobs will require college or other specialized training, according to a White House report. In a separate report today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate for those with a bachelor’s degree is only 4.6%. To meet this changing educational need, President Obama has set two national goals: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world, and community colleges will produce an additional 5 million graduates."

http://obama-mamas.com/blog/?p=2014

[tomm2thumbs]

3. half the national average - seems like California is actually ahead of the curve

guess the article would have been better entitled 'California College Drop Out Rate Half National Average'.
Is the LA Times doing a hit piece again on education?

[petronius]

4. Seems like that's the real surprise number in the article - I'd like to see more discussion

and explanation of that fact.

And if we spend more $$ on students that don't finish, is it simply because we have more students, or do we spend more per student, or both? This article could use a little expansion...

[Po_d Mainiac]

6. perhaps the author was a math major and never got past the freshman year?

[Po_d Mainiac]

5. WTF?

...Maybe half means twice???

[aquart]

7. Yes. It sounds like the money was put to good use.

It halved the dropout rate. How is that a bad thing? This article seems to be written with the sincere intention to distort and manipulate.

[RedCloud]

8. Wow! California is first. Texas 2 NY 3. Almost like population stats!

How much did they pay for that study?

What's next? Sun "tends" to set later in West than in East?

[harmonicon]

11. +1 (nt)

[bananas]

16. "What a surprise... the three most populous states had the highest total amounts"

From the comment section at the article:

R.a.awr at 2:00 AM October 11, 2010

What a surprise... the three most populous states had the highest total amounts (not rates) of spending. How about we look at per capita numbers and then draw conclusions. This article is absurd.

[jonathan_seer]

9. So What!

California is the MOST populous state BY FAR!

Texas is Second and New York is third BY LARGE MARGINS.(Florida is 4th biggie but not mentioned)

Naturally virtually any measure of "Total Amount spent" is going to be greatest for these three states. The notion that these amounts are "large" considering the multi-billion dollar school budgets especially in California is silly.

Meaningful measures would be "the percent of each state's spending." But that's not mentioned to create a false sense of significance for this bit of nonsense.

To believe its significant a sign of not thinking.

When talking about billions, millions, even 100s of millions are small #s.

The "News" if any in this article is that California has only a marginally larger amount that Texas yet California has 12 MILLION more people than Texas does.

The amount lost in Texas is way out of proportion, considering NY seems to be more in line with California's losses.

I'm surprised the reporter didn't include the losses of California are equal to Alaska's entire school budget, to emphasize what a terrible waste it was.

It is a normal thing for some kids who want to go to college to drop out and decide college isn't for them.

The money they get to go to college is not wasted, because there is no intent on either part to defraud anyone.

It IS a natural SMALL part of the cost of funding public education through the variety of ways we do so in this nation.

To expect somehow to cut this number as if it is waste is again a sign of NOT thinking.

To complain about it, or infer there is something wrong indicates someone somewhere thinks the best measure of reality is their own perfect ideal.

And finally considering the large amount of debt even a semester or two can produce for a student, the inferred notion that some students might be keeping some of the cash is idiotic. More than likely the majority left because they simply could not afford college no matter how much aid they received.

[Kolesar]

10. The money keeps teachers employed ... eom

[Downwinder]

12. They could lower fees and tuition the second year, that might help.

[Iterate]

13. Dumb and dumber

The article seems to be a combination of a reporter who either was on too tight of a deadline or couldn't be bothered to look further and a Superintendent of Public Instruction who was misusing a study to defend against unwarranted budget cuts.

The study was meant to put a number on something we already knew: universities cost money and the more students you have the more it costs. What I don't like is the assumption that the value of that first year is somehow lost to the economy, the individual, or the greater culture. Coming up with that metric would be damned difficult, too difficult it seems.

Having a first-year retention rate of 85% is not bad for any single public university, let alone the whole system. Here's a list of 100 universities with the highest 4-year graduation rate:

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/highest-grad-rate

Time after time studies of graduation rates have shown that, at least at the level of behavior measured by demographics, the highest correlations to dropping out are low family income (which would increase the need to work/study part-time), low high-school GPA (i.e. college academic preparation), and low participation in university life (also caused by the first two reasons). Here's a typical study from the UNC Chapel Hill that, not surprisingly, came up with the same findings(PPT format):

http://www.ecsu.edu/fs/facultysenate/docs/UNCCH.ppt

More worryingly, another factor that pops up in these studies is a lower graduation rate for first generation attendees at a university. In other words, there is understandably less family support for the effort, but unless that student can succeed the challenge continues into the next generation and we'll be hashing over the same subject 25 years from now.

And that is what the reporter and the Superintendent should have been talking about.

[Blandocyte]

14. So the people trying to turn the U.S. into a third world country

are putting out propaganda pieces to influence taxpayers to stop support of public colleges and universities? That result would not only could save them tax money, but would also help ensure they have the idiot workforce and voting bloc they'll need in the future.

[Blandocyte]

15. Would be interesting to see the racial breakdown in the numbers

as part of a sociological look at this phenomenon. If minorities are over represented in the numbers, it might have some implications for issues of discrimination.

[bemildred]

17. And think of all the money spent on studies that are completely useless. nt

[NuttyFluffers]

19. akin to: iPods raises hearing damage risk! (just like old 80's walkmans!)

ps: water is wet.

[Iterate]

20. Examining Student Retention: Study Links Drop-Out Rates to High Numbers of Adjunct-Taught Courses

"A study published recently in the journal Educational Policy found that students who take large numbers of courses taught by part-time faculty in their first year are less likely to return as sophomores. However, institutionally-specific findings suggest that the underlying issue may be one of administrative support."

~snip~

"There are, of course, many other factors that contribute to student retention, including academic performance, in-state residency and, according to a growing body of research, the type of instructor to which a student is exposed during his or her first year. A number of studies have found a negative correlation between student retention rates and the number of first-year credit hours spent with contingent faculty. Researchers have suggested that this link is due to the importance of teacher relationships for students as they form a bond with their institution and the fact that part-time faculty are much less likely to develop these relationships."

"Examining Student Retention: Study Links Drop-Out Rates to High Numbers of Adjunct-Taught Courses
http://education-portal.com/articles/Examining_Student_Retention_Study_Links_Drop-Out_Rates_to_High_Numbers_of_Adjunct-Taught_Courses.html

Here is an article about the work referred to above:

"What Keeps Students in One Place? Study Examines Factors in Student Retention"
http://education-portal.com/articles/What_Keeps_Students_in_One_Place_Study_Examines_Factors_in_Student_Retention.html

Long story short: Good experienced teachers keep marginal students in school. Administrators and legislators beware.

[slackmaster]

21. The state should demand reparations

NOW!

[xxqqqzme]

22. Or could that 'drop out' be.....

"...California Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell agreed that colleges and universities could operate more efficiently in moving students toward graduation. But he said state-imposed budget cuts that have slashed classes, increased student fees and reduced staff are more of a hindrance..."

I would also throw in the cost of textbooks - which is off the charts.

(emphasis mine)

[Igel]

23. Full study, the other 49 states' numbers

http://www.air.org/files/AIR_Schneider_Finishing_the_First_Lap_Oct101.pdf

A lot of the posts seem to engage in wishful thinking (the numbers aren't bad, because (a) students mostly come back, (b) it's the states' fault, (c) the students leave after getting a really good education for the first year, (d) something else, (e) anything else).

In other words, the only reasons that they don't drop out for are academic insufficiency, a mismatch with the college, or anything else that they could possibly be held responsible for. On the other hand, nearly every college student I've known who dropped out after their freshman year was going to flunk out or had severe emotional difficulties. Every school had a pile of solutions to help the students that were decent students and wanted to stay. I've known perhaps a dozen student, probably a few more, who dropped out.

A small number went on leave of absence or dropped out to provide for their families. By "small number" I mean 2-3 out of hundreds. None had made plans to transfer to lower-ranked colleges or community colleges. Usually if you suddenly develop the need to work as a freshman drop-out you don't make big bucks so you don't have lots of extra time and cash for night and weekend college classes. It's different if you're finishing high school, know you need to work, and make plans for that.

I have known students who dropped themselves out of school, convinced they're utterly inferior, their 3.8 GPAs notwithstanding.

I'd really like to see a few breakout charts: family income, race, high school GPA vs. college ranking/tier, sex/gender, parental education, previous family members in college, need-based grants versus general-fund spending, any affirmative action spending vs need-based and merit-based grants. Granted, there's a fairly large overlap between them all so it's not like they're completely independent factors, so I'd like having SES as a control for race and GPA.

Then again, this was a private non-profit's report and easy to cobble together. Essentially a pilot project saying, "Give us grants to learn more."

[No Elephants]

24. So? IMO, one year of college better than zero years of college.

"Nationally, about 30% of first-year students do not return for a second year. At California public colleges, the dropout rate is about half that."

So, headline is very misleading.


"My impression is that we need to make a greater investment in higher education" he said. "Too many students are being forced to take on a second or third job. The lack of adequate college funding has led to fewer classes being offered, which extends the number of years it takes to finish."

So, spin is everything.




But O'Connell said the study raised important policy issues.

"The fact that we have these numbers helps with accountability and transparency," he said. "We should do exit interviews with students and learn why they leave education."


Anyone else remember when LAT and NYT were principled papers?

Fair enough.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

25. Sounds like me. I dropped out after freshman year.

I guess I wasn't ready for college.

I went back after a hitch in the Army, and (after a few changes in major) got a degree.

Does this OP study cover the long term?

:hi:

[Evasporque]

26. California Families spent billions on freshman

Who drop out later....