All Posts Tagged With: "drop out rates"
Study explores the reasons behind dropping out
Losing a job isn’t one of them
A recent study by researchers from Michigan State University found that college students who are considering dropping out are especially sensitive to “critical events” such as depression or a loss of financial aid.
That’s not too surprising, considering the fact that twenty-five per cent of students who visit university health clinics may be suffering from depression.
The surprising part of the study? Major events such as a death in the family, a significant injury, inability to enter their intended major, substance addiction, becoming engaged or married, or losing a job needed to pay tuition all had much less of an influence on the decision to drop out.
The supposedly small influence of losing a job surprises me because paying for books and tuition comes right down to the last dollar for many of us, even with part time jobs, student loans and scholarships. I know it would be tough for me to pay thousands of dollars in tuition and books each semester (even if you buy them second hand through friends or websites like AbeBooks, it can still add up) after suddenly losing a job or other source of money.
The study developed a mathematical model to describe the reasons behind students deciding to quit, analyzing surveys from 1,158 freshmen at 10 U.S. colleges and universities. The survey included a list of 21 “critical events” (such as the previously mentioned loss of financial aid or death in the family) and students were asked if they had experienced any of them during the previous semester. The students were later asked if they planned to withdraw.
Other events that influenced students included an unexpected bad grade, roommate conflicts, and being recruited by an employer or another institution.
20% of older teenagers no longer in school
Canada stands out among OECD countries with young people not continuing education
A newly released study has found that one in five older Canadian teenagers were no longer pursuing a formal education in 2008. The 20 per cent rate among teenagers aged 15 to 19 in Canada was higher than the average of 15 per cent across the 31 countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Statistics Canada reports the OECD proportion was down from 20 per cent in 1998, but it remained stable at 20 per cent in Canada. The agency says the proportion of teenagers aged 15 to 19 no longer in school varied from 14 per cent in New Brunswick to 26 in Alberta. The corresponding estimates for the territories ranged from 25 per cent to 34 per cent. StatsCan says employment and earnings prospects increase strongly with educational attainment.
In 2008, the employment rate for Canadians aged 25 to 64 who had not completed high school was 58 per cent, whereas the figure for college and university graduates was 83. Graduates from university programs earned considerably more — 75 per cent more on average — than high school or trade and vocational program graduates. According to the most recent data available, the college graduation rate in Canada, which includes only first-time graduates, was 26 per cent, well above the OECD average rate of 10 per cent.
The Canadian Press
Facebook holds first-years hostage
British college uses Facebook as a retention tool, claims a “significant improvement in retention”
Read the full story at the BBC
Also on Academica’s Top Ten
Dropping out for oil
Only two-thirds of Alberta high-school students graduate—lowest in Canada
The lure of a booming oil industry has caused a small exodus of high-school students to drop out before graduating, the Globe and Mail reported above the fold today.
Using Statcan data on public-education enrolment released yesterday, the Globe found that 67.9 per cent of young Albertans graduate high school, lower than any other jurisdiction aside from Canada’s territories. That number is four per cent higher than in 1999.
Alberta education spokesperson Kathy Telfer told the paper that a more accurate graduation rate looks at dropouts who return to school several years down the road. That number included, the total graduation rate is closer to 80 per cent, she said.
The Globe’s Michael Valpy juxtaposes the Alberta experience with that of the Maritimes. When the formerly booming fishing industry was at its peak, more kids left school. The boom has since shifted out west. Meanwhile, in Atlantic Canada, participation rates in university and college remain among the highest in Canada, and the region also graduates the highest proportion of high-school students in the country (along with Saskatchewan). Newfoundland, however, experienced a 20-per-cent drop in enrolment between 1999 and 2006.
