Significant Issues Surrounding Student Retention in Colleges or Universities in New York - Research Paper Example

Introduction This paper discusses the significant issues that affect student retention in New York University, Cornell University and University of Rochester and what these institutions are doing to promote student retention within them. The paper will analyze the issues facing the students who leave the institutions with an aim of bringing forth measures that would be utilized in improving their conditions. It exclusively explores the issues of working part/full time, cost/ affordability and the responsibility of being full time parents for students attending universities or colleges in the New York state. The study will benefit the students and the community living within the state of New York. In addition, the results of the study will be used for developing appropriate strategies that will help in improving the retention of students in these institutions. Findings 1) Working Part/Full Time Most students who live within the New York neighborhood and hail from poor communities work in part time or full time jobs for the purpose of attaining social integration along with becoming connected with other students in these institutions (West, 2011). The Universities within New York have devised and implemented full time and part time courses within their curriculums. These courses have in turn availed students with the options of pursuing their academic goals and working for the purpose of earning their living at the same time (Falk, 2011). Reports indicate that approximately 43% of the populations of students attending university within the state of New York work on a full time or part time basis. This in turn enables them attain the required funds when pursuing their academic goals (Tinto, 2007). The universities within New York like Cornell University have come up with several measures that enable the most deserving students in their community’s access financial assistance that is offered through bursaries and scholarships. The move has enabled many needy students within the state to persist in completing their education (Boston, 2012). According to the NCES statistical analysis reports, approximately 78% of students who have enrolled in universities spread across the state are able to persist and successfully complete their education (2011). Most students who work on a part/full time basis have been found to do so due to their problems in attaining finances and their high costs of living that residents of the area have to endure (Fleming, 2012). The universities have devised various methods for dealing with the issue of students deviating from their studies to indulge in work by creating greater learning opportunities for students who are academically talented. These include increasing learning opportunities like offering a variety of courses through their distance learning programs (Falk, 2011). These programs have become beneficial to the working students since they are able to schedule their time efficiently between their jobs and studies (West, 2011). 2) Cost/ Affordability There are several financial programs that have been created to improve the attainment of university education by students from poor backgrounds (Fleming, 2012). These programs have introduced in universities like the New York University and Cornell University since the mid 1990’s and has offered great promises poor or needy students who have received assistance (Falk, 2011). According to recent reports, the affordability of education within the state of New York has continuously become cheaper in the process of time (Tinto, 2007). The university of New York, Cornell and the University of Rochester all offered courses that were charged about $6,200 for students receiving sponsorship from the state to $ 15,000 for self sponsored students during the 2011 academic year (Boston, 2012). The universities all aim at providing education that is of a superior quality to students who come from all economic along with social backgrounds (Tinto, 2007). The fees charged by these institutions have been determined by the institutions boards after considering the income levels of the people living within the region (West, 2011). Several universities within New York like the University of Rochester have recently witnessed a decline in the number of applicants wishing to join or who successfully complete their education (Alverio, 2010). This is because the university has recently been increasing the fees they charge for various courses within their curriculums in recent years. Their courses have become more expensive than the same courses that are on offer from other universities within the state of New York (Fleming, 2012). This has in turn facilitated the drop in the number of students who enroll and complete their education successfully in the institution (Boston, 2012). On the contrary, the universities of New York along with Cornell University have witnessed increases in the number of students from different social along with financial backgrounds that successfully enroll and complete their education in them (Tinto, 2007). According to reports, the universities of New York and Cornell have witnessed a 90% successful completion rate for students who have enrolled into the institutions. The students also reportedly complete their education having cleared their dues to the institutions through the various financial mechanisms that have been introduced for assisting students from needy and poor backgrounds (NCES Statistical Analysis Report, 2011). 3) Being A Full Time Parent Reports indicate that among the three universities a significant percentage of their student population comprises of many students who are full time parents (Falk, 2011). Most of the students who indulge in full time parenting do so due the financial constraints they encounter in employing baby sitters to assist them (Fleming, 2012). It is also aggravated by the fact that some universities for instance Rochester in our case demands higher fees for the education they offer to their students (West, 2011). Full time parenting has had diverse effects on the academic persistence of some students within these institutions due to the pressures exerted on them by the high costs of living within New York (Alverio, 2010). The students need to attain funds for catering for their family needs as well as theirs and efficiently schedule their time between their household and classroom chores (Tinto, 2007). However, since the universities introduced the distance learning methods that are appropriate to their parenting students (Falk, 2011). Reports indicate that there has been an 18% increase in the number of parenting students who enroll in these institutions for higher learning and successfully complete their education (NCES Statistical Analysis Report, 2011). The institutions have additionally introduced part and full time options for study for the different types of students who are enrolled in these institutions. These include the offer of part time or full time learning options and the provision of financial support to needy students who may also be parents from poor backgrounds through bursaries and scholarships (Alverio, 2010). Previous reports indicate that the fees charged for tuition purposes within these learning institutions have increased along with the increases in the prices of consumer goods (Fleming, 2012). This has in turn made the demands parenting students get from their families affect their learning activities along with academic persistence (Falk, 2011). This is mainly because most students who are at the same time parents tend to indulge more in financial beneficial activities beyond the classroom in order to sustain their livelihoods (West, 2011). The different types of learning programs that have however been introduced by the universities have enabled the parents to achieve academic persistence and successfully complete their education (Fleming, 2012). This is mainly because they enable the students to appropriately schedule their time between their parenting and learning activities while ensuring they succeed in both (Falk, 2011). Subsequently, according to reports, the introduction of these different programs has enabled the universities to witness an increase in the number of parent students who have successfully graduated from them in recent years. Discussion There were several limitations that were conducted during my research. They include the lack of adequate time to collect information from the students concerning all the factors that affect them. There was also little to motivate the students interviewed during the research to enable a deeper understanding on the issues affecting them. The results obtained from the research cannot also be generalized for all the universities within the state of New York since they were carried out on only three universities. This is mainly because the different kinds of universities researched in the paper tend to attract students with diverse backgrounds and educational qualifications. They additionally provide different learning environments for their students which may contribute to the different levels of persistence and success that their students eventually achieve. Finally, these universities have developed different strategies for countering the problems that are affecting the different types of students in their population. References Alverio, R. (2010). Institutional Factors And Students Retention: A Study Of How Institutional Factors Are Related To Students In Schools And Colleges, New York: iUniverse. Boston, W. (2012). American Public University System. Office of the President. Retrieved on June 19, 2012 from: http://wallyboston.com Falk, B. (2011). The New Educator Journal, Vol.7, issue 1, pp: 108-256. Fleming, J. (2012). Enhancing Minority Student Retention And Academic Performance: What We Can Learn From Program Evaluations, New York: John Wiley & Sons. National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) Statistical Analysis Report. (2011). Student Victimization In U.S. Schools: Results From The 2009 School Crime Supplement To The National Crime Victimization Survey. Retrieved on June 18 from, http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012314 Tinto, V. (2007). Research and Practice Of Student Retention: What Next? Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, Vol.8, Issue no.2, pp: 1-20. West, K. (2011), Keep Students Hooked on Your School. Today’s Campus. Retrieved on June 19, 2012 from: http://www.todayscampus.com/articles/load.aspx?art=1969 Read More