Though a bachelor’s degree is typically labeled a 4-year-degree, many students find themselves obtaining their college diplomas after six years.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the six-year graduation rate was an alarming 57 percent at public institutions, 65 percent at private nonprofit institutions, and 42 percent at private for-profit institutions.
There are actually many reasons that a student might have to extend their stay at their university.
For Lakendra Clyburn, she entered her major late.
“I came to A&T as an undeclared major, so I wasn’t taking journalism classes until my second semester sophomore year.”
In addition to students entering their major late, Akua Matherson, associate vice chancellor of enrollment management said that there are many other reasons that cause students to extend their stay at the university.
Some of reasons include changing majors more than once, dropping or repeating courses, poor advisement, not being aware of deadlines, not being prepared for the rigors that matriculation through college demands, as well as finances and funding.
“Many of the reasons stem from the activities we tracked as we developed the new and newly revised [academic] policies.”
According to the 2013 A&T Scorecard, the retention rate slightly improved from 2010 to 2012. Matherson accounts this change to those revised policies.
“These policies were all to assist our students with making appropriate decisions as it relates to staying focused and on target,” said Matherson. “In addition to policy revisions, several services have been added or enhanced to support students academically. Tutoring from peers and professionals is widely available in a number of areas; there are also math and writing labs available to students.”
The average retention rate for A&T is 74 percent, meaning that most of the students who enter as a freshman, graduate. A&T also has a 20 percent 4-year graduation rate and a 42 percent 6-year graduation rate. The University’s goal is increase the overall retention rate to 85 percent by the year 2020.
“Many of the programs we are currently offering will continue and expand including tutoring, success coaching, mentoring, advising and appropriate skills testing. In order for us to continue to make gains we must be fully engaged as a campus community in the success of our students, this includes additional changes in our policies meant to make the student stronger.”
The associate vice chancellor included that the most significant of the new policies for Fall 2014 is the new minimum GPA requirement that must be maintained by semester. “Beginning Fall 2014 all undergraduate students must maintain a 2.0 at all times. Maintaining at least a 2.0 assumes that barring other hurdles, that student will be retained.”
A&T also plans to implement a new Early Alert/Warning System. Having been tested on several groups of students during this current academic year, the early alert system will allow professors and lecturers to generate triggers or emails to students and their advisors when a student is not performing well in a class or missing too many classes. The system will also allow staff to send notices of encouragement to students who are on the opposite end of the spectrum doing extremely well.
A final initiative is the repeat policy. Students will only be able to repeat a maximum of 16 hours within their academic career. This limits the number of repeats, which had become a barrier for some students in retention and persistence. Several repeats also add to attempted hours which previously put students into the ‘tuition surcharge,’ greatly increasing the cost of tuition.
The office of undergraduate admissions and the Provost’s leadership team hope the new and newly revised policies will help current students remain in good academic standing. They also wish to aid and provide incoming students with the necessary tools to succeed during their academic careers at A&T.
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- LACI OLLISON, Register Reporter