Lowering College Drop Out Rates

The New York Times published an interesting report in Sunday's paper on interventions that have some evidence to lower college drop out rates.

Georgia State University raised their graduation rate from 41% to 56% over the last decade. Here are some of the strategies suggested in the article:

1. Getting a C in a declared major course prompts immediate meeting with advisor

2. Dramatically increasing number of hours spent with academic advisors with triggers for poor attendance or failure to register for correct courses.

3. Moving intro math courses from lecture to substantial computer lab time with immediate online feedback along with increased instructor feedback

4. Adding retention grants for students who are only a few hundred dollars short of paying tuition

Colleges are finding that aggressive drop out prevention is financially sound. Georgia State generated an additional $18.9 million annual revenue with their higher retention rates.

The entire article can be accessed here

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