I Want to Finish But I Have To Work

Well if I didn't have to work to pay for my college, it might be a lot easier to finish. You have probably heard one of your students make this or a similar statement as you talked with them about their poor performance in your class. We as academics often use this anecdotal information when we are discussing how to help students improve their completion rate. Now there is some verified research that may help all of us as we continue to look for solutions. Researchers at North Carolina State University released the results of a survey they produced using the Revealing Institutional Strengths and Challenges instrument. In a news story by Inside Higher Ed, the data show "that working and paying for expenses were the top two challenges community college students said impeded their academic success. The researchers surveyed nearly 6,000 two-year college students from 10 community colleges in California, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming in fall 2017 and 2018." It is too bad that students from Louisiana were not polled but the students that did participate opened a window into the many impediments community college students face. You can read the entire article here.