Motivation in college: why don't they ever mention those that cannot afford it?

Question

Every year it is the same thing. There are community wide efforts to get students to go to college. Colleges offer their own breed of "commit to completion"

Every college mentions that students need motivation and maybe academic support (esp for harder classes)

While I do admit that as true, they don't cover the whole picture

There is a study done by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation that plainly states that 
"70% of first semester college drop outs cite financial reasons for dropping out". 

That means that you take 100 students that dropped out of college after thier first semester, and 70 of them will drop out simply because they could not afford it

So in some part they are telling you to be interested in college, but even if you are intested if you cannot pay the school itself will drop you out. yet nobody mentions this, they just say it is a "national problem" if you press for answers

What I think is they do need to adress "paying for college" whenever they mention stuff like this, even though they NEVER do

Maybe they are better off saying nothing at all. Or offering to meet halfway, such as is evidenced by saying something like this, "the ONLY reason to abandon/drop out of college is when the student can no longer afford it"

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

How many of that 70% that supposedly dropped out due to "financial reasons" only chose that because they didn't want to admit the truth - that they dropped out because their grades were so poor and not that they were too poor? For real, how many would choose the block(s) "I'm too dumb for college," or "I partied too much and never went to class."

Derek · Answer

First lets look at that 70% figure cited. If 70% of the college dropouts cite financial reasons, then a large part of that is likely due to the for-profit schools that recruit students like mad.  One such school reportedly had recruiters go get anybody they could to sign up for college and student loans. Within the first semester the student often caught on that the school was a rip off and dropped out-yet still had the burden of a student loan for an overpriced for-profit tuition. One school reportedly even had recruiters going to get homeless people to sign up for classes and student loans. Obviously the homeless did not have the ability to pay and did not pursue the classes. Yet they are part of the 70% that cite they dropped out because they couldn't afford college.
 The bottom line here is that a student may drop out because of costs, but a dedicated student with ambition will continue to pursue college-even if that means attending a community college that costs less, or perhaps just taking classes part time based on what was affordable. A college education is well worth the costs if the student makes wise choices. A community college and a state university are generally far better investments than an expensive private college or a for-profit online "scam" school..

Hawkeyesrule · Answer

Just because a student says they are dropping out because of financial reasons doesn't mean it's true.  Who wants to admit to people that they are dropping out because they failed every class?

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Motivation in college: why don't they ever mention those that cannot afford it?

3 Answers