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Hi all -- of possible interest. Overall I think the article gives a pretty unrealistic view of the 4-year "sleep-away" college, and tries to apply that model to public schools. But an interesting quote, "In the fall, Pace University in New York begins the ''Pace Promise'' program, pledging to add sections or open closed courses for eligible students who are shut out. Similarly, SUNY at Fredonia will pay the tuition of students in its ''Fredonia in Four'' program if they can't get needed courses."
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The Longtime Student
April 13, 2003
By KAREN W. ARENSON
Sean Boyle has started college three times. The first time
was right out of high school, nearly a decade ago, when he
enrolled at Eugene Lang College in New York City. He had
been a solid student in high school but dropped out of
college just weeks into his first semester to pursue
acting. The second time was about a year later, after
giving up on the theater. This time, he worked as a temp
and attended Nassau Community College on Long Island. That
lasted a semester, until the company he was working for
offered him a full-time job. He bolted again.
The third time, after changing jobs, he decided he really
did need a college degree. Now a payroll administrator at a
property management company, he leaves work at 5:15 two
afternoons a week, wolfs down a sandwich in his car and
dashes for a 6:10 class at the State University of New York
at Old Westbury. He is 27 and this time intends to
graduate.
''For quite a while, college didn't seem important to me,''
says Mr. Boyle, sitting in Old Westbury's cafeteria in a
white button-down shirt, dark suit and tie, surrounded by
younger students in sweat pants and jeans. ''I saw it as
vocational training and I had a job and my career was
advancing. Then I realized what a liability not having a
degree was. Also, I realized that I had internalized
feelings of inferiority. These days, most people have
college degrees.''
More people may have degrees, but like Mr. Boyle, many take
circuitous routes -- and many years -- to get them. To the
consternation of educators, politicians and tuition-paying
parents, a student's path through college -- once a quick,
smooth ride on an open freeway -- is now more like
stop-and-go rush-hour traffic on the Long Island
Expressway.
Once the norm, a four-year bachelor's degree is no longer
typical. Students now spend on average five to six years
steeped in Socrates and child psychology courses before
accumulating enough credits for a diploma. Of the students
who entered college in 1995 planning to earn a bachelor's
degree, only 37 percent succeeded within four years (33
percent from the institution they enrolled in as freshmen),
and 63 percent within six years (55 percent from the first
institution), according to a study issued in December by
the United States Department of Education.
The prolonged student tenure has prompted both outrage and
concern. Some government officials see a waste of taxpayer
money when slowpoke students attend state-supported
universities and receive federal and state aid. Others see
the graduation rates as a failure of colleges to do their
job properly, or blame students for being undisciplined and
taking up slots better occupied by fresh-faced, motivated
freshmen.
''The longer people are enrolled, the more it costs, and if
students have to borrow, it drives up their debt load,''
says Sally L. Stroup, head of the office of postsecondary
education at the Department of Education, which has been
soliciting recommendations on what role the federal
government can play in spurring students to graduate
sooner.
Faced with budget cuts and swelling classrooms, state
governments as well as colleges from Minnesota to Texas
have been testing various ideas to hasten graduation. In
New York, Gov. George E. Pataki has called for withholding
a third of a student's aid until graduation. At the
University of Florida at Gainesville, a tracking system
tells what courses a student needs to complete a major and
flags those who are falling behind. A growing number of
universities are also guaranteeing that required courses
will be available so students can graduate on time. In the
fall, Pace University in New York begins the ''Pace
Promise'' program, pledging to add sections or open closed
courses for eligible students who are shut out. Similarly,
SUNY at Fredonia will pay the tuition of students in its
''Fredonia in Four'' program if they can't get needed
courses.
THE strongest predictor that a student will graduate is
academic preparation, especially the level of math
completed in high school, according to Clifford Adelman, a
senior research analyst at the Department of Education.
''Finishing a course beyond the level of algebra II -- for
example, trigonometry or precalculus -- more than doubles
the odds that a student who enters postsecondary education
will complete a bachelor's degree,'' he wrote in a 1999
report on college-completion patterns.
Selective universities like Yale and Harvard have little
problem getting their freshmen out in four years (88 and 84
percent, respectively). They admit academically prepared
students who have the best graduation prospects, and most
students attend full time, live on campus and work limited
hours -- all factors that raise the likelihood of
completing college.
But for colleges like SUNY at Old Westbury, which is filled
with students who do not meet this profile, ensuring that
students graduate -- and graduate more quickly -- is a
challenge. Like marathon runners who reach the finish line
hours after the winners have raced through and the cheering
crowds have gone home, many students limp on for years.
Founded in 1965 for nontraditional students, Old Westbury
enrolls students who tend to have the lowest graduation
rates: disadvantaged students, many of them black and
Hispanic, with poor academic backgrounds. Pushing down
their prospects still further, many live off campus and
hold full-time jobs.
In 2001, Old Westbury had one of the most diverse student
bodies in the State University of New York system and also
the lowest graduation rate: only 18 percent of freshmen who
entered in 1997 graduated four years later. Only 24 percent
of those entering in 1995 succeeded in six years. Five
percent were still working on degrees; 71 percent had
either transferred to another college or dropped out.
SUNY officials are pressing all the campuses to raise
graduation rates -- among the four research universities,
six-year rates in 2001 ranged from 52 percent at Stony
Brook to 77 percent at Binghamton. But they have left it to
each campus to work out the methods.
''What I'm seeing across the university is pretty
innovative programs,'' says Robert L. King, SUNY's
chancellor, ''particularly in student advising, getting
students lined up with the right majors and courses,
getting support for students who need to enhance their
study skills or need help in science or math or whatever.
''But remember, this all starts with what the demographics
are of the students you're admitting. If you are the Ivy
League, and you are admitting only the top 5 or 10 percent
in terms of performance, your graduation and retention
rates are higher. The economics of families who come to
public universities are such that they may need to work
more. The age of students is also a factor; some are
married and have other obligations.''
At Old Westbury, a critical first step was to attract
stronger students, in part by becoming more selective and
shrinking the number of freshmen, from 460 to 280. (SUNY
has made up for the lost revenue.) It has also introduced
financial incentives -- merit scholarships and free rooms
in its residence halls to top students.
The president of Old Westbury, Calvin O. Butts III, insists
its mission has not changed. ''If a rabbi or a chemistry
teacher or a Boy Scout leader recommends someone who has
strong motivation but does not have 800 or 1000 on their
SAT's, we will still take them,'' he says. ''We are just
getting the diverse students out there who have achieved
well.''
The university is also trying a new ''first-year
experience'' program that teaches study skills and time
management and offers field trips, dances and other events
designed to make commuter students feel part of a
community, and thus more engaged in class. Most students
are now matched with faculty advisers their first year
rather than after they choose a major.
''You want students to bond with faculty immediately,''
Mary Marquez Bell, vice president for enrollment, says,
adding that professors have to play a central role if the
college is to keep students on track.
Dr. Butts expects all this to contribute to higher
graduation rates. Already, the proportion of students
returning after freshman year has jumped, to 71 percent
this year from 56 percent four years ago. But there is
still more to do. Facing a tight budget this spring, the
college canceled 24 courses, leaving students to scramble
to fill holes in their schedules. Some ended up taking
fewer credits than they planned, which will delay
graduation.
Anastasia Yokom, 24, lost a course in Eastern religions.
Ms. Yokom, who hopes to become a teacher, transferred to
Old Westbury in January from a community college, where it
took her seven semesters to graduate. Studying does not
come easily, so she had taken less than a full load. ''I
work my butt off, and I still don't make it,'' she says. As
for losing the course this term, she adds: ''If it takes a
little bit longer, I don't have a problem. I just don't
want to be here until I'm 40.''
Ahmed Rodriguez, 27, is in his sixth year at Old Westbury,
thanks to academic and financial problems combined with a
full platter of extracurricular activities and a double
major. He earned A's his freshman year but then took on
responsibility as student government president and worked
long hours in two clothing stores. He kept running out of
time on tests. Not surprisingly, his grades suffered.
He sought help with his test-taking problems, cut back on
activities and outside work and took a semester off. ''I
didn't want to not take courses, but that's what I had to
do,'' he says. Now he is earning a 3.5 average and looking
forward to graduating in May with majors in American
studies and media and communications.
While educators believe that students who graduate on time
will be better off, Mr. Rodriguez says he does not
understand the hurry, with so much to cram in. No one
dictates how long it should take to marry or buy a house.
Why should college be stuffed into a particular time frame?
''The college experience is the best time of your life,''
he says. ''It is not good to rush out of school. Everyone I
know who graduated wishes they were back in school.''
Karen W. Arenson covers higher education for The
Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/13/edlife/13UNDE.html?ex=1051507980&ei=1&en=cffaab0f4b39a938
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