Just half of students who go into college in the U.S. leave with a completed bachelor’s degree. It’s an incredibly costly problem, both in financial and human terms.
Less than 4% of college grads are jobless in this country. But the picture is much bleaker for those who don’t finish school. Jeffrey Selingo, the author of a new book “College (Un)Bound” recently offered some surprising guidelines suggestion on how we should re-think college in America to get more people to graduation.
- Extending the bachelor’s degree timeline. Because so many people stop and re-start college, it’s critical to come up with degree programs that structure costs and credit requirements in a way that don’t punish students for taking more than four years to get a BA.
- Stop 18 year olds from jumping in to school too quickly. Because so many high school grads don’t really know what they want to do and aren’t mature enough to start investing tens of thousands in college, there should be more options to work for a year or more after high school graduation. Apprenticeships, national service and other “gap year” options should be increased.
- Technology at U.S. colleges needs to be upgraded to increase options that mix classroom study with online learning, and academic calendars should be untethered from the traditional September – June structure so that students can work on their own schedules.
Read an interview with Mr. Selingo here.