ENC 1102
The majority of the population in the United States graduates from high school. After high school, the next step for an education is to attend a college or university. It seems to be that college has a lower graduation rate than high school and this can be attributed to multiple factors such as costs of tuition and living. This does not appear to help out our situation as a country however, being that it is projected that 59% of jobs will require a college degree by 2018 and only 38.3% have a college degree now (O’Conner). There are many reasons why the graduation rate is so low: financial problems, rigorous academic work, and not being able to handle all of the responsibilities necessary for college life; there are even some factors that are not at all negative; it's clear, however, that college students face bigger obstacles to meet their goals.
The graduation rates in colleges in Florida tend to be lower than average compared to other states in the nation. As expected, colleges in the United States are trying to fix that by applying programs within their schools in an effort to increase these rates. Presidents of the colleges are in charge of these programs and must initiate it into action. In an email sent from Dr. Eduardo Padron, the president of Miami-Dade College, to the entire faculty of the college, he mentions that the school has a low graduation rate. The school’s graduation rate is “39% for college-ready students and only 18% for unprepared students” (Padron). When one reads the message, they do not think twice about the meaning behind it. It seems as though the message is to rally the teachers behind the MDC3 plan that he has proposed (Padron). However, if you read the email again, you will realize that this plan is never explained. The president is boasting about this plan and how it had helped the campus so much, yet you do not know what it has done exactly. Another part of the email mentions the graduation rates of students from Miami-Dade College with “39% for college-ready students and 18% for underprepared students” (Padron). These numbers are low and are meant to motivate the staff to be better teachers, yet the numbers are a little skewed. For instance, the percentages count students that have transferred to other universities as incomplete, causing the percentage to be higher.
These low graduation rates seem to be evident in the state of Florida. In fact, Florida’s college graduation rates will not be able to meet the demand for degree holding jobs by the year 2018 at this rate (O’Conner). However, at the end of the article, it is stated that Hispanics in Florida are leading the nation in college degrees. Yet, these statistics are a little biased, since the state of Florida is mainly made up of Hispanics, because of its location near South America. Hispanics tend to feel pressure from their families to excel. Nathaniel says that his main reason to go to school is that his “fiancé is getting her master’s degree and is constantly encouraged by her to go. She is young and doing well and I want to be able to bring some to the table” (Cruz). This percentage that is given is to shed some light on a very dim statistic of Florida. By placing this fact at the very end of the article, it leaves the reader in a positive mood about the failure of Florida’s college students (O’Conner).
For some careers, a college degree is not needed. Fruzsina Eordogh, a dropout of Loyola University Chicago, is an aspiring journalist who has found work without a degree. She has written for AOL.com and True/Slant and has never had to show her diploma from college. She continues to work full time for an online publication and is currently in the process of paying back here $50,000 in loans that she had accumulated throughout her college career (Carlozo). The amount of debt that students obtain after college is great, yet in another section of the article, it states that those that graduate receive $19,550 more a year than those that do not graduate college (Carlozo). This causes the predicament of graduating or not. On one side, you can graduate and use the extra money you will be earning to pay off the debts that you’ve obtained, or you can drop out of college, and go through the trouble of finding a job without a degree to pay it all off. Although Eordogh can be considered successful without a degree, along with fellow dropouts such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckergurg, the chances of “making it” in this economy without a degree are very slim (Carlozo). At the current rate that the economy is growing, the Lumina Foundation projects that 59 percents of jobs in the United States will require a college degree. For the majority of the population, dropping out of college to aquire a job is only a temporary solution at best. Fortunately, some students would rather stay in college and study through the debt rather than getting a job without schooling. Nathaniel Cruz, a student of Miami Dade College, says that “even if I get the job I want, I’ll still study for my degree as it will be for job security. Also, that knowledge that I gain can be used for other uses if need be” (Cruz).
With the responsibilities of all the school work that needs to be done, followed by the limited amount of time to do school work because of jobs, the number of responsibilities can be overwhelming for some students. For Lara Copeland, a student of the University of Central Florida, school is a lot to handle. While taking 15 credits her fall semester, Lara felt “too busy” and she “could not figure out how to prioritize classwork. All of the classes are important and as doing one piece of work, I’ll realize that I need to turn in an assignment in a couple of hours” (Copeland). She would have weeks where she can have two tests in one day and a paper due by the end of the night. This overwhelming amount of work may be too much for some students. Especially those without preparation from their respective high schools, the large workload that is piled on a student can greatly affect a student’s decision on whether or not to continue to achieving a college degree.
For those that decide to continue on with college, and are able to handle the load of work thrown on them, they might face another problem with graduating. One way a student might be able to handle the work that needs to be done for college is by simply taking fewer classes in a semester and taking longer to graduate. However, this method can pose a number of problems for not only the student, but for their peers as well. The image that comes to mind when hearing the words “college student” tends to be an 18 year-old adult living in a dorm. Yet that is not the case for the majority of colleges as they are “secretaries who take 10 years to get a bachelor’s degree”. Being in college for a longer period of time indirectly affects the school as there are a certain number of “seats” in a class. These seats can be taken from younger students by the older ones that choose to take college slowly. This can then cause a train of students taking longer to finish college. Another negative impact that students face when taking longer to graduate college is financial. Students that take more semesters in college increase the amount of money spent for their education. More money spent leads to more student debt, and thus causing students to have another element in their debate to stay in school or not (Extended Stays). This just seems to make a never ending cycle of debt and time spent in school.
There is another aspect of the low graduation rate that seems to be overlooked wherever research seems to be done. The United States is a host to a plethora of international students that come from six out of the seven continents in the world. From India, China, South Africa, England, and Peru, students come from all over because they personally believe that America has a higher quality of education compared to their home country. Joao Gauer, a student of Florida State University, is an international student from Brazil, who is attending Florida State on an athletic scholarship. Joao has plans on being a doctor, yet he states that he did not attend school in Brazil because “college is expensive over there. Playing tennis was my way of attending college for free. Without it, I would not be able to afford it.” However, it does not mean he has not faced any hardships while studying in America. “I was taught English in high school as it was a required course. Yet, it was just enough to survive in public. I find conversations with people to be very difficult as I cannot remember the English words and not many people here actually understand Portuguese.” Joao has three years left of eligibility left in his tennis scholarship, but has 4 years left to graduate college; he plans on attending medical school in Brazil to become a pediatrician in his home town (Gauer). Joao will eventually graduate college, yet he is not graduating in the United States. Because he did not graduate in this country, he will go down as a student that dropped out of college statistically. Because of this, the graduation rate as a whole actually seems lower than it truly is. It is an explanation to a factor of low graduation rates that does not truly involve students just giving up.
College is a tough obstacle for a young adult’s life. With financial problems, rigorous academic work, and not being able to handle all of the responsibilities necessary for college life, and a failure of calculating the correct rates, college students face bigger obstacles to meet their goals. A goal to graduate with a college degree and to have job security.
Works Cited
Copeland, Lara. Personal Interview, 24 May. 2012
Cruz, Nathaniel. Personal Interview. 24 May. 2012
Gauer, Joao. Personal Interview, 2 June. 2012
O'Connor, John. "Florida Not Producing Enough College Graduates To Meet Job Market Demand." StateImpact. Local Public Media and NPR, 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2012/03/28/florida-not-producing-enough-college-graduates-to-meet-job-market-demand/>.
Padron, Eduardo. "To Make a Difference." 7 May 2012. E-mail. 2--
Florida Not Producing Enough College Graduates To Meet Job Market Demand. "Why college students stop short of a degree." Reuters. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 27 Mar. 2012. Web. 14 May 2012.
"Why college students stop short of a degree." Reuters. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 27 Mar. 2012. Web. 14 May 2012.
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