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At least fifty percent of college students in US do not graduate. This fact has thankfully been getting a lot of attention of late mostly due to President Obama’s commitment and ambition to restore America as the world’s leader in the field of higher education.

Tom Mortensen, an educational analyst said in his Postsecondary Education Opportunity newsletter that chances of realizing the President’s goals are hugely limited. According to him some of the major reasons for graduation dropout must be addressed if there is to be any chance of succeeding. For example, students who join colleges must be academically prepared to handle the course.

Today one of the top most priorities for universities and colleges is to curb drop outs. However this was not the case just a few years ago. In fact, certain institute even used to think that student drop out is a matter of pride as it was believed to be due to their rigorous academic schedule. Today, graduation rates are viewed as a measure of the performance of the institution.

Colleges are ranked based on their graduation rate figures. Rankings are taken very seriously by college administrators and therefore there is a massive effort in retaining students and getting them to graduate by them. 

People today are also worried about our country staying competitive economically. In spite of growing concern over rates of graduation, there is no significant improvement in the level of accountability required by colleges. Funds provided to the public universities, for example, are not tied to performance and results.

Money is paid to them not based on number of students who graduate but to the number of students enrolled. Statistics of completion rates also take into account only those who study at these institutes and not those who attend two or more institutions during their under graduation. Statistics does not cover those who graduate as part time students.

In order to improve the conversion rates, colleges must be more selective. Students who are high achievers and who are prepared to handle the stress of college life are the ones who are likely to graduate within the time frame.

A lot of schools in the United States are putting in efforts to enhance graduation rates mostly by focusing on retention. They concentrate particularly on students who are sensed to be arisk experientially, financially or academically. Institutions focus on retaining as many students as possible through the first year of college which is when the dropout rates are highest, according to research.

According to Karrin Wilks, VSC Senior Vice President, every college employs different strategies to enhance retention and graduation rates. Focus is predominantly on the low income, first generation students who are the least likely to graduate as compared to high income students with parents most of whom are college educated.

Encouraging results are already showing and hopefully the efforts continue and bear fruit in the very near future. This should be a great input in helping our President realize his dream to make America once again a leader in the field of higher education.