Many students leave because they are not adequately prepared for post-secondary work. They have a high school diploma but have not truly received a high school education.
Kimberley,
Hi! You have brought up very common reasons that students abandon their education. I have to think that FEAR is the over-arching reason. The fear of failure or possibly the fear of success. How can we as an industry help the student overcome the repression of fear?
Cindy Bryant
Edwin,
Welcome to the forum! Thank you for taking the time to research the reasons that student leave your institution. This type of information is critical to the success of your program. It is good to know that your admissions department is operating well. In examining your campuses two main reasons that students leave it is apparent that you have limited ability to control the external factors in a students life. As far as the second point, this is an internal problem that can be addressed and corrected through enhance training. Based on your research if you are able to control faculty engagement in the classroom you could minimize your attrition rates.
Cindy Bryant
Students that I have spoken to that would like to come back have told me they stopped because problems in their personal life. Life seems to always get in the way.
Students leave because they are forced to doing something with their life either by welfare, court order, or parents. So far in my teaching career, the large portion of my drops are because of these issues. They tell me, it is a lot harder then they had expected or this field is not for them , they thought it was but did it for their mom.
Kristen,
Hi! Recently I shared an article that I read in the Science Daily regarding the impact of decision making when a person is stressed. It is an excellent read and I encourage you to review the article. If we understand the why behind our students decisions we may be able to assist them more fully. The link is; http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120228114308.htm
Cindy Bryant
I feel students often withdrawl due to their life activities. Alot of students try and balance family life, work, and school and sometimes the family life takes a greater priority and therefor students will lose balance and need to drop school.
Students leave because of family issues, welfare issues and are just not wanted to commited to wanting to change there lives and life style.
Four reasons come to mind as to why our students start and never finish.
1. Obstacles in their lives that they are not able to overcome.
2. Lack of family support for child care.
3. The class is not exciting, challenging and motivating for them to return.
4. They are struggling academically and they are not getting the support from their instructors.
This is why student services is so critical for our students. Our student services provide resources and support for our students who are faced with outside challenges.
From what I have witness in my classroom, some student to not have the skills to take on education and deal with issues in their personal life. Significant person in their life make it hard for them to continue to go to school. They allow what was bothering them before coming to class to continue in the classroom by texting and talking on the phone. They just get overwhelm and not come back.
Since our program is such an accelerated program that we only offer day classes, it makes it very difficult for our students to have a job as well as be students. So in terms of supporting themselves and often times their kids, they just find it to difficult to continue.
Theresa,
Thank you for joining the forum! How can you be a positive influence on your students and help them overcome some of these obstacles?
Cindy Bryant
This varies per student, some loose interest, others are not followed up with, some get buyers remorse, other cases are their families do not support them. There are many of different reasons.
Just from what i have seen a number of students withdraw becuase they have personal situations with family, or they have found work that conflicts with their school schedule which causes the student a hardship.
Unfortunately, there are several factors that come into play from childcare, not having family support, a course that is difficult for them to an instructor not being what they expected. Just like everything else, there are obstacles you need to overcome to be successful, and some of those obstacles are too tough to handle with school. We do are best in Student Services to help with some of these issues, but it doesn't always help keep the student in school.
I think that a lot of students withdraw from our institution because of not being prepared for the courseload. Our program is a very intense nursing school that requires almost all of your time. There is a lot of studying involved and I think it may be hard for student's to try to balance life and school, especially if they have children. We try to make student's as aware as possible as to the class load during our different programs so they can plan accordingly and prepare, but I think sometimes it is still hard to balance everything.
Students withdraw from our program due to many reasons. Some of those reasons are beyond our control. Like for example medical issues, family illness, or financial issues. Others might withdraw due to lack interest which is something we can prevent. We are trying everything to stop those who might drop before they come to school by providing tours.
I believe there are many reasons why a student leaves. First and most often, the student is overwhelmed by the material being presented in the program. Many students have not had the educational background and when they enter the program they become overwhelmed. In some cases, it has to do with circumstances that arise within the student's life (i.e., child care issues, having a child, homelessness, transportation, family issues and the list continues). In other circumstances, the student may not be able to relate to the instructor. In these circumstances, the student will leave.
I feel that in all circumstances, an institution should have resources to assist with any concerns that will present a student from withdrawing. In the case of being overwhelmed, the instructor and student can sit down together and find ways to help understand the material. In the student's life, information on resources to assist the child can be provided in an attemp to alleviate the stress of the issue (i.e., child care, homelessness and etc). Finally, much like the first, the student should inform the instructor so the instructor can work with the student.
The reasons behind a students choice to withdraw from my institution are varied on paper. It could be due to financial reasons, medical reasons, family issues, etc.
However, in most cases these are just obstacles that a student could overcome. Furthermore, if a student really wanted to stay in school it is always for the same reason, because they like their instructor or their classes.
In my opinion, I believe that any student issue could be resolved if the student is learning and enjoying their time in the classroom. So the real reason a student would choose to withdraw from my institution is always related something that happened in the classroom that the student did not like.
Lindsey,
When a person chooses to further their education they are aware that they will have to make sacrifices that include coursework. Some students feel as if they will not need to study as much as the admissions person has indicated. Sometimes it is difficult to accomplish more than one goal at a time, whether it be nursing school or caring for your family.
Cindy Bryant
