Hardly a day goes by without a college announcing it is
cutting jobs, programs or spending. You’d think with all the brainpower at our
colleges and
For organizations preparing students and society for the
future, they are still stuck in the past. The churn and burn focus on
continually bringing new students through the front door, and then just watching
them go out the back door is killing college enrollments. As well as individual
and collective futures. And as they leave, the budgets, employment, class
sections, services and the ability to meet the educational mission go down as
tuition and fees go up.
In Ohio
for example, the average non-graduation rate for all colleges and universities
is about 48% over six years. That means the average Ohio college or university loses almost half
of its population every year. The average state assisted four-year school
has a slightly higher 53% six-year attrition rate. These are four-year or more
selective schools. They choose who can be accepted; who they believe is capable
of succeeding. Two year community college attrition rates are higher but they
are non-selective and cost both the students and public less. They accept any
student who wishes to try to succeed and that is going to open them up to as
many of much greater attrition.
The cost of attrition to students who leave (most drop out
rather than flunk out by the way) is extremely high for them, our society and
culture. Most leave feeling as if they failed in some way even though 72%
usually leave because of what has been identified as weak to poor academic
customer service. Their educational and personal needs as customers or clients
of the schools were not met. Many of the dropouts have also used up much of
their college savings, financial aid and ability to obtain a college loan. As a
result, many will not go back to school and become part of the State’s employment
problem.
When students drop out and do not graduate, the schools lose
their ability to meet their educational mission as well as their chance to
assist people and our state to meet career and intellectual goals. And they
lose billions of dollars a year; something neither individuals not taxpayers
can afford..
It costs an average of about $6,000 to recruit, enroll and
process each new student to a college or university. So, every student who
leaves takes at least $12,000 out the door with him or her from day one of
coming on campus. The dropping student takes the $6,000 average financial
investment the school made to recruit and enroll him or her initially.
The lost student must also be replaced so that will cost another $6,000
recruitment and enrollment cost. And since not every drop out is replaced
immediately, tuition revenue is also lost equal to the number of dropouts times
tuition cost.
To demonstrate what I am writing about I look to one of the
largest and successful schools in the country, Ohio State University. OSU loses an
average of over $6.9 million a year from attrition. So, if OSU were to increase
retention/graduation rates they could easily save
many millions of dollars each year. This is money it could use to fund
programs, new faculty, additional course sections, and equipment; whatever it
needed and without the cuts and freezes it is currently incurring. The
taxpayers would save millions of dollars the State needs for other programs.
Moreover, since the total attrition loss to the State supported schools
calculates to
$115,678,232, focusing more on helping students meet their goal of graduation
would have significant positive results for the State of Ohio, its citizens and
economy.
And this is true not only for Ohio but
every state.
This is revenue that colleges need to survive in to many
cases. OSU is an outlier because of its 83% graduation rate but still they lose
millions on attrition. Imaging what your school is losing. Better still
calculate it. Take the total enrollment and multiply it by the attrition rate
(1005 minus the graduation rate. Taka that number of students lost and multiply
it by the tuition and see how many millions you are losing.
To learn how to increase retention contact us at Great Service Matters and get a copy of our new bestseller From Admissions to Graduation by Dr. Neal Raisman by clicking here.
Contact him at 413.219.6939 or email nealr@GreatServiceMatters.com
