Welcome students, Class of ….of….well, we’re really not sure
Now we find ourselves in the beautiful month of June — and colleges everywhere are toting up the paid deposits that were due by May 1st. These deposits confirm the members of the incoming freshman…I mean “first year”… class this fall. Deans and Presidents across the country are sending out welcoming letters to these members of the Class of 2025.
But there’s a problem. National statistics tell us that many, if not most, of these students will never graduate by 2025. In fact, almost half of them will fail to graduate by spring 2027, a full six years from now.
If college presidents were really honest about things, this is the letter they would send out:
Dear Students:
Welcome to our college! We look forward to welcoming you to campus in August, as you begin your exciting collegiate lives. Traditionally, this is the time when we warn you that the next four years will absolutely fly by, and you members of the Class of 2025 will be donning caps and gowns to begin your post-collegiate careers.
Frankly, though, for many of you that will not happen. Although we of course feel that our college is a cut well above the average, I cannot hide some troubling national statistics from you, and feel obliged to share them with you now.
According to statistics from Education Data, 30% of all first year students will not return for their sophomore year, mainly because of academic problems.
I’m afraid the longer term facts are even more dismal, but here they are. A study by CAPPEX reports that only 57% of all public college students will graduate in six years, and that only 33% will manage to graduate in that quaint four year schedule that your parents followed back in the day.
Private schools do better on this metric than public colleges, particularly on the four-year graduation rate, but not by all that much, as evidenced by their their 65% six-year and 58% four-year graduate rate.
To sum up, some 30% of you will not make it to your sophomore year in college, and approximately 40% of you will not earn a degree in even six years, let alone four.
As you know, your tuition charges are per semester, so if you need a couple of extra years to finish up, that will increase your total tuition payments accordingly. That’s certainly not a problem for us, although it might be for you.
Although you have been hearing recently that the federal government is doing its best to offer long-term forgiveness on the student loans they are issuing to most of you, there is a lot of fine print to read and understand on those programs, and many of you will not qualify. Unfortunately for you (and for your parents, grandparents or anybody else who may have co-signed your loans), these debts are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, so you (and they) are on the hook. Remember, this applies whether or not you receive a degree, or even return for a second year.
We don’t want to overly alarm you, though. Those of you who do manage to earn a degree will be able to launch yourselves into a good career and earn more than your peers who earned only a high school diploma. Of course that presumes you major in something that society values economically, like engineering, chemistry, or math. Those of you who major in art appreciation, linguistics and medieval studies may have a bit of a harder time earning much more than you would have with just a high school diploma — and without the cost of that college degree. But these subjects are fun to learn, stimulate you in all types of classroom discussions, and allow you to sample some of the many curriculum delights that we offer here.
Finally, let me warn you about the plague of alcohol abuse that infects campuses all across our country. We would be naive to think that it isn’t a problem here. We certainly do not encourage underage drinking but we know that it happens and our policies are aimed to keep things from getting too far out of hand.
Unfortunately, alcohol-fueled injuries and deaths occur every year on college campuses, and we can only hope that none of you are included in that particular statistic.
You will absolutely love our high achieving tenured faculty, although 50% of all college courses nationally are taught by part-time adjunct faculty members. We pay the adjuncts about $3,000 per course, with no benefits. This may strike you as a tad low, particularly in light of the tuition we charge for a course – whether it is taught by a full professor or a brand new adjunct. But there seem to be enough adjuncts willing to work for those wages, and some of them are really good. Of course, others of them are clunkers but we jettison them after one semester, so this should not be a problem – unless you happen to have been in the clunker’s course. In which case, we apologize in advance. The tuition is still payable.
OK, now that we have covered the basics, welcome again, Members of the Class of 2025, or 2027, or of no particular graduating class at all. Thank you for your deposits and for the initial tuition payments that you (or somebody on your behalf) will be sending to us this summer. After all, we have food courts to expand, rock climbing walls to build, state of the art fitness centers to upgrade, and many other creature comforts that our students have come to expect, and which do cost money.
The next few months will be exciting — picnics and concerts during orientation and move-in day, and a host of other get acquainted activities that will help you meet your fellow classmates. Try to get to know as many of them as you can, since a third of them will likely not be on campus for your second year.
Sincerely,
Your College President
Vic Brown is a writer and author of the book “Welcome to College – Your Career Starts Now!”