Class-based Affirmative Action?

A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education asks whether it is time for higher education to consider affirmative action policies based on socio-economic status after a new report by Public Agenda finds that the main reason students drop out of college is because they have to work. http://chronicle.com/article/Reactions-Is-It-Time-for/62615/


As a former college admissions officer at a selective institution, I certainly have some opinions about affirmative action policies, but I am not going to discuss such a controversial subject in this blog. I just used it to draw you in. ;)


But now that I have your attention, I really want to direct it to the Public Agenda report, on which the Chronicle article was written, as it provides an honest look at the struggles of today's college students, struggles that must be addressed if the United States is going to remain competitive in terms of higher education attainment.


Anyone who has worked on a college campus knows there is no one reason why students leave college. Thus, there is no silver bullet for improving college retention and graduation rates. Reasons for leaving range from poor academic preparation to homesickness to having a spat with a roommate. But, as evident from the results of this study, today's college student looks different than the college student that higher education was designed to serve. The numbers from the report shows that today's college student is working an average of 20 hours outside of classes and drops out because of the difficulty in balancing classes with work life. Most students who drop out would like to go back, but work and family committments keep them from going.



Strive's partner higher education institutions recognize the barriers to success at their respective institutions and are actively working to address them. We know that lower-income students struggle to pay for college and thus various programs such as the University of Cincinnati's Pride Grant and Northern Kentucky University's Holmes/Newport Grant have been designed to eliminate financial barriers to college for low-income students from the urban core. We know that students with exposure to college-level work while in high school are more academically prepared to be successful in college and nearly all of our regional higher education institutions offer some type of dual enrollment opportunities for local high school students to earn college credit and build their skills prior to enrolling. Gateway Community College, for example, is now offering college classes at Holmes High School in Covington. And, we know that students benefit from living on campus and participating in learning communities as evident by the success of University of Cincinnati's Gen-1 Theme House for first-generation to college students and other programs at local institutions.

We know a great deal about the various reasons students leave and our institutions have developed some excellent and evidence-based interventions to help retain them, but I believe this report, which provides insight directly from students, shows us that designing interventions isn't enough. If we want more students to be prepared for and succeed in postsecondary education, it will require a bit of a culture shift for higher education. Like any good business, higher education must work to meet the needs of its customers. This includes more flexible scheduling, more online course offerings and more innovative ways to educate today's students. Listening to students is the first step in making this shift. Kudos to Public Agenda for going directly to the source in order to dispel the myths and shed light on the realities of today's college students. We can only hope that higher ed is listening!