After graduating from high school, attending college is the natural and expected progression from childhood into young adulthood. For this reason, high school graduates often feel pressured into college before they are sure about what they want to do and who they want to be.
While having some college education seems like it would look better to an employer than having nothing more than a high school diploma, this doesn’t seem to be the case.
After high school, there are generally two options: Go into the work force or go to college. Though it’s a fairly simple concept, it has many flaws.
Going straight into higher education means from the ages 18 to 20, students are expected to decide what they want to do with their lives and how they want to go about it. This is a big decision to ask of people with so little life experience.
On the other hand, if a high school graduate takes time off from going to school, to work and figure things out, it is likely they will never actually pursue a college education. And if they do eventually make it to college, they are likely to face more obstacles than if they had gone straight from high school to college, now that they have fallen behind their peers in respect to both education and the professional world.
According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, in 2012 about one-third of students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities didn’t return the following year. And nearly two-thirds of students who return after a break in their education don’t complete their education or graduate, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Point Park University’s rate of retention is around the national average at 74 percent in 2013, according to collegefactual.com. While being around the national average is not necessarily a reason to panic, the retention rates are dropping. According to retention rates provided by the University, in 2010, 77 percent of full-time, first-time freshmen returned to the school for their sophomore year.
The University has been increasing its efforts in raising retention rates by making changes in policy, such as requiring professors to track students’ attendance. But if a student is already missing a significant amount of their classes there is a chance they are already feeling too far behind, or have already made the decision that Point Park is not the correct place for them.
The University could be taking a more proactive approach. Instead of waiting for the students to stop attending their classes, it could reach out to all students, finding out what issues they have with not only the University, but with their higher education as a whole and work from there. By treating students as individuals instead of as a whole generalized group, the University may come a long way in raising retention.
Going into college without any idea of what you want to do is a pretty big risk, with the cost of tuition and student loans weighing on you, but taking time off can be equally risky. Sticking with whatever decision is made is key for success.
Employers often look negatively on unfinished college careers and it is hard to continue advancing in the professional world without a degree of some sort.
Make sure college is the right thing before jumping into it and then stick with it. Often students do not find work in the fields they’ve studied and their degrees only serve as a reassurance of their credibility. A college degree can turn credibility into a key to unlock success in whatever field students end up working in.