Vanessa Brewer
Credit Bill McCullough for The New York Times
According to a recent New York Times article, “More than 40 percent of American students who start at four-year colleges haven’t earned a degree after six years. If you include community-college students in the tabulation, the dropout rate is more than half, worse than any other country except Hungary.”
The Times article cites the statistics that family income is the determining factor for whether or not a student will graduate. Professor David Laude, of the University of Texas, put together a plan to change these outcomes. It is called the TIP (Texas Interdisciplinary Plan) program, and it provides students with smaller class sizes, extra instruction, and peer mentorship. And it is having an impact, students from the lower income bracket are performing on par with students from the higher income brackets. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below on how we can support university students in their journey to graduation.
