Minority Retention
...ed issues in higher education over the past twenty-five years. But knowing why student’s dropout does not tell us what institutions can do to promote student retention. It is the case because retention is not the mirror image of dropout; the factors that help explain why students leave are not the same as those that explain an institution’s ability to help students stay and graduate. The purpose of higher education is not the case that students are retained, but that they are educated. Condition for Student Retention, institution commitment translates in turn to expectations for student success. High expectations are a condition that promotes student retention. To borrow a commonly used phrase, no student rises to low expectations. Expectations are expressed in a variety of ways. In classrooms they are expressed in the level of intellectual work expected of students in the degree to which students are learning in the classroom as a challenging. It is too often that universities expect too little of students. At the same time, universities will sometimes hold different expectations for different students. This may be expressed in the labels we use to describe groups of students, for instance contained in the term “remedial” students, in the way we treat them differently it sometimes happen among faculty and students of different gender ethnicity. It is shown that in research students quickly pick up expectations and are influence by the degree to which those expectations validate their presence on campus. Support is a condition that promotes student retention. Research points to two types of support that promote retention, academic and social support. Unfortunately more than a few students enter the university insufficiently prepared for the rigors of university. The ability of social support in the form of counseling, mentoring, and ethnic student centers. The centers provide much needed support for individual students and a safe haven for groups of students who might otherwise find themselves out of place in a setting where they are a distinct minority. For new students, these centers can serve as secure, knowable ports of entry that students to safely navigate the unfamiliar terrain of the university. Involvement is also a condition for student’s retention. The more the students are academically and social involved, the more likely they are to persist and graduate. The more students learn the more value they find in their learning and the more likely they are to stay and graduate. This is true for more able and motivated students who seek out learning and is more likely to respond to perceive shortcomings in the quality of learning they experience on campus. All work and no play isn’t the problem to get students to stay at a university. Students much like everyone else, need to be able to release the pressure of life in a way that is fun for them. For that reason the universities should host a variety of activities for students every semester. From large activities like the week-long celebration of Homecoming to simple dances and picnics, they should attempt to provide the students with the opportunity to take a minute away from stress and just have a good time with other fellow students. For the students who are more interested in educational and cultural activities, the Department of Universities Community Programs should provide lectures, concerts, and educational film series to allow the students an intellectual escape from their studies. All types of financial aid have been shown to have a positive influence on college enrollment, regardless of the student’s race or ethnicity. Today, financial aid is central to the successful enrollment and retention of low-income students. For the majority of these students 90 percent are receiving financial assistance and is critical in paying for college. The availability of funds to meet tuition and other college-going costs not only impacts student’s decisions on whether to attend college, but it also greatly influences their choice of college. It is shown that surveys indicate that student loans play an enormous role in all student decisions regarding college. For minority students, whose financial aid does not meet college costs, the difference can be awkward. Having sufficient funds enhances college students academic performance, facilitates their social integration on campus, and increases their chances of persistence to graduation. African American students indicated higher levels of expectation regarding financial-aid related service, including the amount of available, the timing of financial-aid awards are the helpfulness of financial-aid counselors. They also expect more in relation to student support, tutoring and accessibility to computer labs. Minority students are altering the nature of higher education in many ways. Over the past twenty years the professors have witnessed dramatic changes in the classr...