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SCSU struggles with retention
By Debbie Peterson
As the end of the semester approaches, some students find the need to leave SCSU. Rachael Booze, a freshmen currently living in Holes Hall, will be one student packing up her possessions and leaving after finals.
"I didn't want to leave," Booze said. "The nursing program is just not big enough. There are a lot of people applying and the program is just too difficult to get into."
Booze is transferring to NDSU this spring.
"Other schools will accept students into majors more readily if they have taken credits from their own school instead of transferring credits," Booze said.
SCSU's student retention rate is lower than the national average by about 1.5 percent. The most common reasons student leave the school according to phone call surveys are personal reasons, planned transfer, financial reasons, course availability and dissatisfaction with SCSU services.
The number one reason for a student to leave is their own private and personal reasons which can include a wide selection of circumstances. Jen Sell-Matzke, the assistant director of residential life, provided some insight as to why students may be leaving SCSU, particularly first-year students in the dorms.
"Some students decide to study abroad," Sell-Matzke said. "They may be placed on academic probation. First-year students may not be ready for college yet, they may be facing pressure from their parents, they need to be here for their own reasons, not others'."
Dr. Chuck Smith, the director of the SCSU counseling and psychological services feels that the main reason why any student leaves college is because of the extra stress and pressure placed on a student in the college atmosphere.
"College is harder than some students initially expect, and it isn't necessarily fun all of the time," Smith said. "I have never seen such a jittery generation before, and many more people now come into college situations on medications and have suffered major issues already in their life. The stress that college places on a student can compound all of these issues."
Holes Hall Director Sue Bauer believes the state in which students enter college effects whether they stay to complete their education or leave.
"We're really seeing students come to college with a lot more personal issues," Bauer said. "I don't think students are as prepared for college as they used to be."
Bauer has worked with college students in a dorm setting for 12 years and has noticed a gradual change through the years with the college students that she interacted with.
"I think that because of all of the personal issues that students are struggling with, such as who they are and what they want out of life - and that's definitely okay - (it) can lead to them leaving," Bauer said.
Financial reasons, the third most common reason students leave SCSU, also can be a source of stress for a student.
"Economics play a big part," Smith said. "The burden of paying for tuition has changed from the taxpayer to the student. You either have to borrow the money or work your butt off, and working 20-30 hours a week is hard and demanding."
Smith also noticed that the ability to pay for schooling with financial aid has become more difficult for many families.
"It's ironic, most middle class families have too much income to receive financial aid, and then not enough money to pay for tuition," Smith said.
The tendency for students to leave because of money issues has a noticeable effect on student retention. Bauer has noticed that students seem to leave now more than they used to and budget cuts play a part in it.
"I think higher education in general is seeing people leave maybe more than they used to," Bauer said. "And I really think that the lack of money has something to do with that. Programs and financial aid are being cut."
Other general reasons for students to leave college include a general lack of vision and lack of maturity in new students, according to Smith.
"If you have a vision of what you're going to be after four years, it's motivating," Smith said. "Not a lot of students have that. As for maturity levels, those words aren't used much anymore. If you look around campus, you see some kids majoring in partying and minoring in college."
The longer it takes for students to graduate, the more money they will spend. The national average for a student to graduate from college is six years, and that is 50 percent of college grads. SCSU's average is lower than that, about 41 percent of students graduate in six years.
"There's a correlation between the cost of school and the level of stress for a student," said Mahmoud Saffari, the associate vice president for enrollment management. "And it's also taking a lot longer for students to graduate."
Saffari places a lot of importance on enrollment management, and will devote more attention to SCSU students' needs to encourage them to stay at the school.
Saffari plans to work toward eliminating the fifth reason students leave SCSU, dissatisfaction with SCSU services, and asks for the help of all SCSU faculty and staff to realize this goal.
"We just ask faculty and staff to demonstrate a more caring attitude towards students, and if they would, the increase in retention would be significant," Saffari said.
There are many different reasons why students leave college, and these reasons are interconnected.
"There are no simple answers as to why students leave college, it's very complex," Smith said. "There isn't just one thing that leads to it, there are a bunch of things interacting."
As Booze prepares to leave SCSU at the end of this term, she explains that she is not leaving because of any negative issues she has with SCSU.
"I have no complaints, I am not leaving because of the school, I like it here a lot," Booze said. "The nursing program is just not big enough, and it is just too difficult to get in."
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