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."
-Jillian
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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/13/edlife/13UNDE.html
UNDERGRADS
The Longtime Student
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.
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"La beauté du monde apparaît quand on reconnaît
la nécessité comme la substance de l'univers"
Simone Weil
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Jillian Murray
http://studentweb.hunter.cuny.edu/~murrayj
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