Back
to school: College dropouts often return and find success
By David
Bowman
May 4, 2009 | LOGAN -- When Bryce Chamberlain, 23,
started college he didn't know that he would be dropping
out later on to join a band, but he did and doesn't
regret it.
"I'm glad I took a break from school. Of course if
the band did work out I wouldn't be here right now.
I'd be with them," Chamberlain said.
Chamberlain dropping out didn't come without a price,
however. The semester he dropped out "was the worst
I had ever done," he said. He dropped out after midterms
and received Fs in almost all of his classes.
Students drop out of college for many reasons. The
most common of these is a bad semester. A bad semester
is when a student received low grades on assignments
and/or on tests and they may feel that they are going
to get kicked out of school so they drop out.
"We don't want them to drop out if they are receiving
low grades or are failing classes," Beth Walden, student
counselor, said. "We want the students to come to talk
to us and we can help them come up with the best course
of action."
"A student has to earn their way back into school
if they have been placed on suspension," Walden said.
A student that has received low grades for more than
one semester in a row may be suspended. A suspension
lasts a year and students are required to remain in
contact with a student counselor during the suspension
and for some time after they have been re-enrolled.
The most common years that students drop out are the
freshman and sophomore years.
"Unlike my friends in high school, I didn't go straight
to college," Vince Baker, 25, said. "I had a good job
and I didn't want to lose it. When I did decide to go
to college I was 22 and my first semester went really
well, then the second semester happened."
Baker dropped out of Weber State University after
receiving low grades in his second semester. "I'm not
really planning on going back to school but, I might,
it's not completely out the window yet," he said.
Tricia Brown, 47, left school after her sophomore
year because she was pregnant. Her husband continued
to go to school while she stayed home and took care
of their baby.
"After my divorce I decided that I wanted to go back
to school and finish. So I took my three kids with me
to Logan and went back to Utah State," Brown said.
Since she has come back to school, Brown has received
her bachelor's in social science from Utah State University,
and a master's in criminal law from Weber State University.
"It wasn't easy; I had to re-learn everything that
I had forgotten and doing so while raising three kids
was hard. But I made it and I feel a set a good example
for my kids to follow," Brown said.
"The student success rate has been fairly high this
school year from those who have re-enrolled," Debra
Reece, student counselor, said. "This school year we
have seen 80 percent of the re-enrolled students do
better than they had when they left. They come back
to school more prepared and ready for what will be coming
at them and that could very well be the reason why we
are seeing such a great returning student success rate."
"I'm glad that I'm almost done and I can't wait to
start making some real money when I graduate," Chamberlain
said. Chamberlain took a year-long break and is back
in school at Utah State after his band fell through.
He has one more year to go before he graduates with
a major in mathematics and he said he's "stoked!"
NW
MS |
