Four Year Pl Prevent Dropping Out

English 104.36 27 September 2012 Four Year Plan: Prevent Dropping Out After a semester or a year more students drop out of college even though 62% of jobs require a college degree. Why do students drop out knowing that there would be no hope for them to find a well-paying job? Many students who drop out of college find it hard to support themselves and their families, and those who drop out of college say they will go back, but never go back. Only 56 percent of students who enter America’s colleges and universities graduate within six years. College students get burnt out once the college work starts to get harsh on them and they find it easy to give up. “Given the variety of obstacles over which a first-year student may stumble, no one can afford to assume that any young person, no matter how academically gifted, is certain to succeed in college” says Raley. The author of “Why We Quit” she gives us personal examples and advice how to prevent dropping out.
Meaning no matter how smart you are its not guaranteed that you will succeed in college, and I truly believe in that quote because I have a very smart cousin name Thelma, who everyone looked up to because she was the smart one out of my cousins and she graduated with honors. But once she attended California State University of Northridge she ended up failing her classes and not receiving a college degree now she’s married with two children. Students quit for many reasons. Some quit because of financial limitations, no parent support, and because academic life has gotten crucial and we can go on and on with why students quit. Due to these reasons dropping out of college has impacted not only themselves but their future families. Students need to get on it and not find the easy way out by quitting. Incoming freshman need to research and familiarize themselves with their future school so they won’t feel the urge to give up or be discouraged. Freshmen face a challenge to the complicated college life, they need to access resources in school to feel involved and overcome the trials they will be dealing with. Knowing everything and anything about your campus is extremely important. Familiarize yourself with your school know all the resources it has. Research what interests you and how it can benefit you later on. Not knowing what resources your school provides can really hurt you. As Raley talks about Diane who was struggling with school work and didn’t know who or where to go for help. Also relate your personal interests to the campus and what you’re hoping your school might have. For example if you’d like to know if there’s a Mexican food restaurant, a gym, fraternities, convenient stores, etc. Go out of your way and do some research it won’t hurt. Also if you’re incoming freshmen that’s anti- social you might want to attend an unpopulated school or if you are a religious person you might want to attend a private religious school. It’s all about comparing your interests to the school and all that matters is you feeling comfortable and feeling happy in the school you’re attending. Maintaining a social life and academic life at the same time is very hard.
Becoming a party animal and staying up late drinking, blowing off classes can hurt you in so many different ways and causing you to drop out of college. “The first eight weeks of school will determine whether the student will be able to adapt having a social life and academic life at the same time” as Tinto states in Raley’s article. This is one out of many reasons why students end up dropping out of college they can’t focus and find it hard to stay up on their academic life. Surrounding yourself with negative people can get you into negative habits. Some incoming freshmen enter college with a mindset that they need to “live it up” in college or get “Turnt up” every weekend and experience the college life. These students don’t realize that they need to set their priorities first before thinking of partying. Becoming the party animal changes so many people. Don’t change for anybody just because it’s cool to drink and
party. School work getting hard and stacking up on students can ruin everything. As Raley uses Diane who dropped out of college due to work getting harsh and not knowing who or where to go for help. She was one of many students who found college hard and ended dropping out. This all falls into familiarizing yourself with the school and knowing all the resources it gives out to the students. For example, if all freshmen knew where to go for help they wouldn’t have any problems passing classes because the school offers tutoring therefore students can’t say there was no one to help them, it all depended on them to figure it out. Financial limitation creates the biggest drop out rates among students. Students give up on school and go out to earn money because they can’t afford the high cost of tuition. Financial aid given by the government is not enough to get them through college some students believe that education is not worth it and they don’t realize that in the long run it will affect them because once they start forming a family they won’t be able to provide them much and that’s when the struggle kicks in. Students coming from low income families tend to have low SAT scores due to attending bad high schools that have taught them in a poor manner. Students attending two year colleges have higher dropout rates because they can’t get classes and feel discouraged, counselors hold them back instead of pushing them forward. Students need to feel comfortable at school as they will at home, they need to push themselves and constantly be reminded that they are not alone and that they need to balance out their social life with their academic life and not become party animals. Financial aid is not enough for the students that can’t afford it but dropping out and working instead of getting an education is not the only option. They can take out loans and investing in your education is definitely worth it because it will open a brighter future ahead of you. Freshman’s need to pull through their first year and not be afraid of anything, the problem that many freshman have is that they give up easily. I know many students want to experience the college life but they have to come in prepare and have their priorities straight and think before they make that big step into the real world.