Stefani+Gjorgievska

=**Issues Surrounding Retention**=

Every student in the United States deserves the chance to go to college.
Most U.S. high school students want to attend college. They recognize that higher education is the most direct path to success in their future careers. College also provides opportunities to explore talents and develop leadership skills they can use to participate more fully in adult life—at home, at work, and in their communities.

Millions of students can’t afford the tuition.
It’s estimated that between 2006 and 2016, nearly 4.5 million students won’t pursue college degrees because their families can’t afford the high costs of higher education.

Low-income students and students of color are particularly hard hit.
Only one in 10 low-income students can expect to graduate from college. And disproportionately fewer students of color earn bachelor’s degrees. This is not due to a lack of talent but instead to the high costs of tuition and to the fact that many graduate high school without the skills they need to succeed in college. They also lack guidance on how to choose a school, apply for admission, and fill out financial aid forms.

Resource : http://www.gatesfoundation.org/topics/Pages/scholarships.aspx - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

2. College environment(employment, unpreparedness)

3.Family issues (lack of support- academically and financially)

4. Admission

5. Quality and amount of faculty-student interaction

Example: Laken Ward, who started at Akron in 2009, dropped out this year after conflicts with roommates and confusion over her financial-aid package. She had misunderstood a conversation with the financial-aid office and thought the university was dropping her from classes because of a delay in processing her aid. By the time the misunderstanding was worked out, she had missed nearly three weeks. "I was so far behind already, I couldn't really catch up," Ms. Ward says. She is now working at a local restaurant and hopes to return to ** college **.

Resource:

http://0-web.ebscohost.com.sslopac.bergen.edu/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=113&sid=b621f86a-251e-460f-a14f-a8bf2f9dd474%40sessionmgr115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=56589783

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/education.shtml
 * United Nations Millennium Development Goals- Goal #2 Achieve Universal Primary Education**

Facts : http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG_FS_2_EN.pdf

About 69 million school-age children are not in school. Almost half of them (31 million) are in sub-Saharan Africa, and more than a quarter (18 million) are in Southern Asia.


 * What will education be in 100 years???**

http://www.good.is/post/what-will-education-be-like-in-100-years/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xZ04jSyd7I

Phi Theta Kappa Executive Director Dr. Risley's remarks to college faculty shared facts about the importance of finishing the degree individuals set out to achieve. "Nationally, 84 percent of college students intend to complete a baccalaureate degree, but only 10 percent actually do. In 2018, all jobs will require a post-secondary education," said Dr. Risley.

"Community colleges are the answer. Today, they are the fastest, most effective way to improve local economies and develop communities. We have a proven record of results. A student with an associate degree who must leave college and go unexpectedly into the workforce will make more than a student with three years of baccalaureate classes with no degree," he added.

"This graduation initiative is vital to the success of our economy, both now and for future generations," said Dr. Smith. "It's important for all of us to see the big picture and take action. For the first time in history, America's youth run the risk of being less educated than their parents. The United States dropped from first to twelfth among developed countries in the number of young adults with college degrees."

http://www.ptk.org/cms_content/test/breakingnews/currentbn1.htm

=**Solutions for increasing graduation rates**=

** Colleges ** have raised graduation rates through proactive advising and by better integrating freshmen into campus life, among other measures. The ** colleges ** have incentives: The Obama administration, foundations, and state officials are all pressing them to produce more graduates to ensure the country's economic health in the future. But it will take time and strong leadership to raise rates across ** colleges **, experts say, as mounting financial pressures on both students and institutions combine to push rates lower.

Resource: http://0-web.ebscohost.com.sslopac.bergen.edu/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=113&sid=b621f86a-251e-460f-a14f-a8bf2f9dd474%40sessionmgr115&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=56589783

Resource:  The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/education/23college.html **Once a Leader, U.S. Lags in College Degrees**

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By [|TAMAR LEWIN] ======

Published: July 23, 2010
Adding to a drumbeat of concern about the nation’s dismal college-completion rates, the __ [|College Board] __ warned Thursday that the growing gap between the United States and other countries threatens to undermine American economic competitiveness. ======Multimedia ======
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The United States used to lead the world in the number of 25- to 34-year-olds with college degrees. Now it ranks 12th among 36 developed nations. “The growing education deficit is no less a threat to our nation’s long-term well-being than the current fiscal crisis,” Gaston Caperton, the president of the College Board, warned at a meeting on Capitol Hill of education leaders and policy makers, where he released a __ [|report] __ detailing the problem and recommending how to fix it. “To improve our college completion rates, we must think ‘P-16’ and improve education from __ [|preschool] __ through higher education.” While access to college has been the major concern in recent decades, over the last year, college completion, too, has become a leading item on the national agenda. Last July, __ [|President Obama] __announced the American __ [|Graduation Initiative] __, calling for five million more college graduates by 2020, to help the United States again lead the world in educational attainment. This month, on becoming chairman of the __ [|National Governors Association] __, Gov. __ [|Joe Manchin III] __ of West Virginia announced that he would lead a college-completion__ [|initiative] __. In May, Grantmakers for Education, an organization for those who make gifts to educational programs, convened a group of philanthropists and policy experts to talk about how to bolster college-completion rates. “We spend a fortune recruiting freshmen but forget to recruit sophomores,” Michael McPherson, president of the Spencer Foundation, said at the __ [|meeting] __. In April, __ [|Melinda Gates] __ gave a __ [|speech] __ at the American Association of Community Colleges convention, urging __ [|community college] __ officials to lead the way on college completion and pledging that the __ [|Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation] __ would contribute up to $110 million to improve remedial programs, in an effort to increase graduation rates. “The stars are aligning in a way that gives me some hope,” said William Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, who hosted the Washington discussion along with Mr. Caperton. “This is a problem that’s been around for too long. But now there’s beginning to emerge a focus of attention and activity that quite frankly we haven’t had till now.” Mr. Kirwan said that the United States had fallen behind other countries over several decades. “We led the world in the 1980s, but we didn’t build from there,” he said. “If you look at people 60 and over, about 39-40 percent have college degrees, and if you look at young people, too, about 39-40 percent have college degrees. Meanwhile, other countries have passed us by.” Canada now leads the world in educational attainment, with about 56 percent of its young adults having earned at least associate’s degrees in 2007, compared with only 40 percent of those in the United States. (The United States’ rate has since risen slightly.) While almost 70 percent of high school graduates in the United States enroll in college within two years of graduating, only about 57 percent of students who enroll in a bachelor’s degree program graduate within six years, and fewer than 25 percent of students who begin at a community college graduate with an associate’s degree within three years. The problem is even worse for low-income students and minorities: only 30 percent of African-Americans ages 25-34, and less than 20 percent of Latinos in that age group, have an associate’s degree or higher. And students from the highest income families are almost eight times as likely as those from the lowest income families to earn a bachelor’s degree by age 24. The problem begins long before college, according to the report released Thursday. “You can’t address college completion if you don’t do something about K-12 education,” Mr. Kirwan said. The group’s first five recommendations all concern K-12 education, calling for more state-financed preschool programs, better high school and middle school college counseling, dropout prevention programs, an alignment with international curricular standards and improved teacher quality. College costs were also implicated, with recom mendations for more need-based financial aid, and further efforts to keep college affordable.

[|http://www.good.is/post/project-tell-us-about-your-nontraditional-education/]

http://www.cccompletioncorps.org/ptk/success-stories

= Bill and Melinda Gates Commit to Education =

Bill and Melinda Gates have kept true to their promise to designate more resources to education. In an attempt to help schools translate all of the recent common academic standards pages into actual class work, [|the Seattle-based philanthropic organization] has pledged $19.5 million to the development of new assessment tools and organizational methods. One of the major goals of current education reform tactics is to unify [|academic standards nationally]. States are increasingly moving towards adopting the standards. Kentucky already has despite the fact that they are still in draft form. This is a movement that policy makers have been pushing toward for a long time, and there have been several bumps in the road up to this point. The standards are primarily for mathematics and language arts. With 46 states on board with the plan, large steps are being made in the right direction. Bill gates recently commented on his desire to help federal efforts to revamp education, with common standards at the top of his list. With donations as large as this, the push toward common academic standards will become even more likely. Common academic standards are seen as necessary to bring American education forward into the 21 st century and help make state-by-state education more equal and better overall.

Resource: http://teachingjobsportal.com/blog/1798/page/2/

Education is one of the basic foundations for success. Therefore, every student in the United States deserves the right to go to college.Most of the students start college with the primarily idea of perusing a degree and graduating insuring a better future. Phi Theta Kappa Executive Director Dr. Risley shared facts about the importance of finishing the degree individuals set out to achieve. "Nationally, 84 percent of college students intend to complete a baccalaureate degree, but only 10 percent actually do. In 2018, all jobs will require a post-secondary education," said Dr. Risley.

Moreover, education is what keeps one country strong. Very depressing research conducted by the CollegeBoard has shown that from a leading country in world education in the number of 25 to 34 year olds with college degrees, now United States ranks 12th among 36th developed nations. These is a serious issue concerning every one of us. We all should focus and help this country improve the education system and provide equal opportunity to every student to pursue a degree.

New Jersey students are having a harder time finishing community college than their peers in the rest of the country, according to a federal calculation of the graduation rates.

While 14 percent of students who started at Bergen in 2006 graduated in three years, about 17 percent transferred out. Many simply left the school. Of those who started full time in the fall of 2008, 66 percent returned the next fall, as did 50 percent of part-time students, according to the federal statistics ( The Record).

Most of the students face with the following issues while trying to pursue a degree:

-Financial Reasons

-College environment ( Employment, Unpreparedness)

-Family issues (lack of support- academically and financially)

-Admission

- Quality and amount of faculty-student interaction

Most of the students start college and have the enthusiasm to be there but the main reason why students aren't finishing their degree is not that they don't want to go to college, but is the reality that they can't afford to go to college. Researches made by the Gates foundation have indicated that '' It's estimated that between 2006 and 2016, nearly 4.5 million students won't pursue college degree because their families can't afford the high cost of higher education( Gates Foundation).

In the past even high school diplomas were sufficient to obtain middle class job. Nowadays these low-skilled jobs have disappeared due to the pressures of global competition( Gates Foundation). This states very clear that in today's society education is a priority. The Georgetown University study projects that nearly 22 million new workers with postsecondary degrees will be needed by 2018, but the U.S. higher education system will fall short of that mark by 3 million graduates( Gates Foundation).

Some students are very lucky that their parents are capable of paying their college tuition.While others have to struggle and work one or more jobs to afford to go to college. These brings the reason why students choose to go to a community college. In order to pay their tuition students have to work. When these students face the reality of work-schedule and school-shedule conflicts, many choose to work instead. Placing education on second place, these students didn't choose the school for a certain good program it has to offer, instead they choose to go to a community college because it was on their way to work.

Another reason why students choose to go to a community college is unpreparedness as Prof. Win Win Kyi has pointed out. Some students think college is extension of high school. The major problems first year students face are the same gather thorough high school. College is way beyond only showing up to classes. Most first year students are still unaware that showing up it's not going to help them pass the class. You don't have your guidance counselor to guide you though high school. In college you have advisor to advise you what you should do, but not guide you through college. Stepping into college is self choice, indicating students personal engagement. Dealing with a completely unfamiliar college environment becomes a challenge for most students. Moreover,some students drop out of college because they can not navigate in the college environment.

Despite billions of dollars spent to improve the U.S. public education system, nearly 30 percent of students do not finish high school. The dropout rate among African Americans, Hispanics, and low-income students is even more staggering—nearly 50 percent ( Gates Foundation). Even for many students college is the last opportunity- to be who they want to be, lack of family support can affect students going to college. Students coming from a families with college graduates value college more than the families of students who are the first ones in their family to even attend college. These significant difference indicates that students who drop out of college are less likely to have a family members who attended or graduated from college. Also, lack of family financial support takes enormous role in students drop outs. Some students are not as fortunate as others to have parents with well situation financial jobs. These applies especially for the Hispanic and African American community.

Moreover, students who lack of family academic support are also lacking on guidance how to choose a school, apply for admission and fill out financial aid forms ( Gates Foundation). Students who drop out of college don't have strong push from their family to graduated. These students need to be taught since high school about the possible careers and careers paths that will help them set up educational goals in order to achieve the desirable career. '' In many high schools and colleges, instructional methods fail to engage students or help them understand core concepts, retain learned material, or apply their learning to real-life situations. Learning models are often inflexible and do not account for students’ diverse learning needs. Organizational processes are too rigid to make use of data that could improve the teaching and learning environment. Too often, postsecondary programs are designed without regard to the real-life challenges that many students face—such as work commitments, family obligations, and financial constraints'' ( Gates Foundation).

Prof. Win Win Kyi indicated that advisors can not give enough support students need in college. First year students have to learn how the college system works and most important to learn how to follow directions, as some students have lost this habit in hight school. As advisors suggest, students should take advantage of their professor's office hours and go talk with them during the first three weeks of classes, after the fifth week is more likely that students will give up. Therefore Bergen offers a new program 123 Connect to first year students who have placed in remedial courses.These program takes serious effort in acclimating students to the new college environment and prepare them for academic rigors.

Resources: PTK International Website http://www.ptk.org/cms_content/test/breakingnews/currentbn1.htm New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/education/23college.html The Record http://www.northjersey.com/news/128166208_Colleges_offer_graduation_prep_Program_aims_to_boost_success_rates.html Gates Foundation http://www.gatesfoundation.org/ Prof. Win Win Kyi