California State University Attempts to Boost Graduation Rate
Aiming to raise its graduation rate, California State University (CSU) is trying to help low-income and minority students receive diplomas even as they are facing the grimmest budget outlook the state has ever seen. The university has set a goal of boosting its 6 year graduation rate to 8% by 2016 and intends to increase the number of graduates by 7,000 or 8,000 students annually. The nation’s largest university system, CSU has about 450,000 students and about 90,000 graduates each year. Measures being considered to make these goals a reality include reducing the number of general education courses that students need to complete to graduate and restricting a student’s ability to withdraw from a class or major. Although the feasibility of CSU’s goal is questionable, it is known that moving students through the system faster saves money, something many campuses had begun addressing and implementing.
Not everyone condones these measures however. Many students protested the measures the CSU system is planning to implement and faculty members at some Cal State campuses have complained that they had too little input into the plans. On the other hand, there are others praising the goal of graduating more students, but fear that the university will use gimmicks to make it appear that more are succeeding.
The Education Trust is working alongside university systems, including Cal State, to collect data and help develop goals and strategies. It plans to formulate a semiannual progress report on schools' efforts. With a mission of improving educational opportunities for low-income and minority students, the advocacy group in the past has criticized many of the university systems for failing to improve graduation rates, and is now taking a more active part in the process.
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Aiming to raise its graduation rate, California State University (CSU) is trying to help low-income and minority students receive diplomas even as they are facing the grimmest budget outlook the state has ever seen. The university has set a goal of boosting its 6 year graduation rate to 8% by 2016 and intends to increase the number of graduates by 7,000 or 8,000 students annually. The nation’s largest university system, CSU has about 450,000 students and about 90,000 graduates each year. Measures being considered to make these goals a reality include reducing the number of general education courses that students need to complete to graduate and restricting a student’s ability to withdraw from a class or major. Although the feasibility of CSU’s goal is questionable, it is known that moving students through the system faster saves money, something many campuses had begun addressing and implementing.
Not everyone condones these measures however. Many students protested the measures the CSU system is planning to implement and faculty members at some Cal State campuses have complained that they had too little input into the plans. On the other hand, there are others praising the goal of graduating more students, but fear that the university will use gimmicks to make it appear that more are succeeding.
The Education Trust is working alongside university systems, including Cal State, to collect data and help develop goals and strategies. It plans to formulate a semiannual progress report on schools' efforts. With a mission of improving educational opportunities for low-income and minority students, the advocacy group in the past has criticized many of the university systems for failing to improve graduation rates, and is now taking a more active part in the process.
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