VOA慢速英语--How Colleges Keep Students from Dropping Out

How Colleges Keep Students from Dropping Out

Tyler Mulvenna worked three jobs last summer, but was still short the money he needed to pay for college.

Mulvenna, 21, a junior at Georgia State University in Atlanta, got a small gift of money from his college. That allowed him to live at school and attend class.

Georgia State used the gifts, usually under $1,000, and other programs to increase graduation rates by 22 percentage points since 2006.

The school also watches student performance for early signs of trouble, such as missing classes, not completing work, or low test scores.

The idea, said Vice¹ Provost Timothy Renick, is to help before problems grow and force students to leave school.

About 59 percent of college students graduate within six years, according to the U.S. Department of Education. That means many students leave college before graduating.

At Georgia State, the rate is 55 percent, but much higher than 10 years ago.

Georgia State is a school with 50,000 students, including many minority students. They are often the first in their families to attend college.

Mulvenna plans to graduate next year from Georgia State – making him the first in his family to complete college. He credits the school with helping² him meet the demands of college.

An academic adviser³ helped him organize school work so he could get better grades, he said. Another helped plan a study year in France.

For his first two years, Mulvenna traveled to Georgia State from his home in Newnan, either taking a public bus or driving. It took at least 45 minutes, often longer because of Atlanta’s heavy traffic.

“I would start my commute⁴ at 7:30 a.m., return around 4:30 p.m., then work at the YMCA from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and then do it all over again the next day,” he said.

Mulvenna wanted to live at school his junior year to save travel time and enjoy campus life more. The small money gift from Georgia State made that possible.

Renick, the Georgia State administrator⁵, said the college was losing about 1,000 students a semester because they ran out of money after paying tuition⁶ for three years.

“For a very small investment, we are helping more of our students to graduate,” Renick said.

At Georgia State, tuition and fees are $11,866 a year for Georgia residents and $30,000 for people from outside Georgia.

Albion College in Michigan is very different from Georgia State University. It is much smaller, about 1,400 students, and, it is a private school with higher tuition, about $41,000 a year.

But it, too, had a problem -- losing students who did poorly on tests their first year of college.

Those students were placed on a watch list, Albion said. About 10 years ago, three of every four students on the watch list dropped out in two years.

Officials credit its Academic Success program with doubling the number of these students who remained at Albion.

It includes a class that teaches good study skills. The class also offers information about emotional factors that lead to success or failure.

The program also requires students to attend three, two-hour study sessions. The students also have an academic staffer and a psychologist to offer individual help.

Many of the students were just not putting “out the effort” needed to do well in college,’’ said Barry Wolf, a psychologist who designed the program. Individual help, he said, allows the school to deal with the “different reasons” students fail.

Colleges are sensitive about dropout⁷ rates. Students and their parents might reject a college that has high dropout rates.

One college president was fired over his attempt to lower dropout rates.

Mount⁸ Saint⁹ Mary’s College in Maryland asked students a series of questions to measure how they might do in first-year classes.

The results were used to urge those who scored low to drop out in the first weeks of the school year. That way, they would not count on reports that measure dropouts.

Mount Saint Mary’s student newspaper in February reported the president’s actions. Six weeks later, the president resigned.

For Tyler Mulvenna, who is finishing up his junior year at Georgia State, the future looks bright. He is hoping for a good job in business.

“I hope that whatever I do, I’ll be able to do something I’ve been hoping to do since I was 15,” said Mulvenna. That includes travel, giving money to good causes and continuing to serve others, he said.

Words in This Story

software – n. the programs that run on a computer and perform certain functions

commute – n. to travel regularly to and from a place and especially between where you live and where you work or go to school

semester – n. one of two usually 18-week periods that make up an academic year at a school or college

tuition – n. money that is paid to a school for the right to study there

psychologist – n. scientist who specializes in the study and treatment of the mind and behavior

dropout – n. someone who leaves a school

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

4 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

5 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

6 tuition   

n.（某一学科的）教学，讲授，指导，学费

参考例句：

• Students can apply for individual tuition.学生可以申请个别指导。
• Is this money enough for the tuition fee?这些钱交学费够吗？

7 dropout   

n.退学的学生；退学；退出者

参考例句：

• There is a high dropout rate from some college courses.有些大学课程的退出率很高。
• In the long haul,she'll regret having been a school dropout.她终归会后悔不该中途辍学。

8 mount   

n.山峰，乘用马，框，衬纸；vi.增长，骑上（马）；vt.提升，爬上，装备

参考例句：

• Their debts continued to mount up.他们的债务不断增加。
• She is the first woman who steps on the top of Mount Jolmo Lungma.她是第一个登上珠穆朗玛峰的女人。

9 saint   

n.圣徒；基督教徒；vt.成为圣徒，把...视为圣徒

参考例句：

• He was made a saint.他被封为圣人。
• The saint had a lowly heart.圣人有谦诚之心。