By Torey Ellis, Staff Contributor
Students at Dal ‘stay in school’ less often than they do at other comparable universities across Canada.
The percentage of students staying past their first-year is rising. But David Molenhuis says retention is still a national issue.
Molenhuis, national chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, is advocating for a national scale on which to measure retention rates instead of the “patchwork of information” he says we have now.
Molenhuis cites the 2010 Youth in Transition survey that says 36 per cent of students—the largest group—are dropping out for financial reasons.
According to Molenhuis, the federal government needs to intervene – but the lack of data, and funding cuts to programs like Youth in Transition, mean that there is less of a chance of action.
So, what can an individual school, such as Dal, do?
“Not a whole lot,” says Molenhuis. He admits that administrators and officials do have influence on the system, but “there’s a disconnect.”
Those higher up “don’t understand these concepts,” he says. Tuition increases will mean more people, largely low-income students, will be completely left out of the system.
Molenhuis uses David Maylor, president of the University of Toronto as an example. Maylor is looking to raise tuition as high as the market can take it. U of T is one of the G13 universities, a group the thirteen top research schools in Canada, which also include Dal.
According to Elizabeth Lane, director of Dalhousie’s Institutional Analysis and Research office, Dal had an 80.2 per cent retention rate in 2006 and an 82.1 per cent rate in 2008. Compared to the other G13 universities, which average 88 per cent retention, Dal is not doing well.
Still, William Hart, acting executive director of Student Academic Success Services says that the past few years have seen massive changes and additions to outreach programs at Dalhousie.
He says Dal has been focussing on becoming more “student-centric” recently, adding human and financial resources to help especially first-year students.
He says students’ reasons for leaving school are “across the spectrum,” from academics to residence issues. “There’s just so much,” he says, “it can be overwhelming.”
Quenta Adams, an academic advisor, also contradicts Molenhuis, saying that the main reasons she sees students leaving is that they “haven’t found their own comfort zone,” and have a number of transition issues.
She says a national retention scale “certainly couldn’t hurt,” but that Student Services is aware of the reasons Dal’s retention rates slag, and are making efforts.
She echoes Hart, who says they’d “really like for more students to know we’re here.”
“Students build up expectations, or parents build up expectations, then they get here and realize that it’s not the right place or it’s not the right time,” says Hart.
Hart says he’s surprised that there isn’t a national measure for retention rates, but at the same time wonders if such a broad range of information with so many factors could become useless.
However, “that’s the only way you’d have an appreciation on all levels,” says Molenhuis. In order to see the statistical outliers that represent problems, “we need to impose standards of quality and standards of action. It’s important that we have a ten thousand foot view of the system.”
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