Students' Long Paths to Completion Carry Major Financial Consequences

Parents Forum
1

<p>“Bloated curricula, remediation roadblocks, and students’ meandering path through college are contributing to a completion crisis that is costing students and their parents billions of extra dollars a year, according to a report released on Monday by Complete College America.” …</p>

<p><a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Students-Long-Paths-to/150295/”>http://chronicle.com/article/Students-Long-Paths-to/150295/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Yes, most colleges only offer need-based or merit-based aid for 8 semesters. My state also limits its grants to 8 semesters. If you are paying full sticker price for a 9th or 10th semester, that could break the bank. </p>

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Which begs the question, why are they even being admitted if they require remedial courses? </p>

<p>Do college football teams give scholarships to players who need remedial football skills? </p>

4

<p>^^My thinking exactly. Over half of matriculants to the Cal State system require remediation. IMO, they should not be in a so-called 4 year school in such situations. Several remediation classes may automatically mean an extra year of tuition – and taxpayer support.</p>

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<p>No…but they give scholarships to football players who have questionable academic skills…and provide these football players with tutoring sessions, and academic assistance to complete courses. </p>

6

<p>There are quite a few young people we personally know who have suffered health challenges that have required additional semesters. These aren’t as unusual as I recall when I was a student decades ago. Our D and S’s room mate both had some extra terms at school due to health issues. Some kids also spend an extra year or longer getting a grad degree hoping to wait out a tough job market. Sometimes it backfires and they do get a degree but more debt and still no jobs. I heard that from other students when S graduated. </p>

<p>If folks need remediation, it seems they should get it in CC before transferring into a 4 year U or college, unless there are special reasons not to go that route (other than ego). Yes, extra terms in U ARE costly–we paid for 3 terms of CC & 9 semesters of private U for D–full pay. No regrets, but it would have broken many budgets and was not what we had hoped or planned. We were fortunate that CC was a very nominal cost and S got substantial merit aid and graduated in 8 semesters.</p>

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<p>Students needing remediation do slip through the admission screening at even some of the most selective universities. For example, Princeton offers a remedial precalculus course, MAT 100: <a href=“https://www.math.princeton.edu/undergraduate/course/mat100/”>https://www.math.princeton.edu/undergraduate/course/mat100/&lt;/a&gt; .</p>

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<p>It’s not unusual to need 5 yrs to get through a BA, what with health issues, changing majors, and what not.
We kept that in mind when determining affordability.</p>

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<p>Our state schools 4 year graduation rates are under 50 percent…I was shocked when I read that. It’s something like 75 percent at 6 years.</p>