The article mentions several suggestions for improving these results, among them is to change the expectation that students should strive to graduate in four years, and getting the college advisors to make this more of a point of emphasis. The report published by UT actually included the quote, “The type of institution we strive to be is neither a country club nor a commuter school, but our student behaviors indicate that they may believe otherwise.”

The article also points out something that PeopleRight Careers has been emphasizing for years – that students often have difficulty selecting a major, and historically college has been seen as an ideal place to explore options and discover new passions. The only problem is that using the college years to figure this out can be an extremely expensive financial proposition.

When my daughter went on a campus visit last year to a private school ($48,000/yr), and on the campus tour the advisor that was hosting her asked her what she wanted to major in. She gave him a clear answer (because she had given it a lot of thought), to which he replied, “Oh sweetie, you don’t need to know that now, you can figure that out once you get here.” But he stopped way short of offering to pay for the extra tuition, fees, room and board that his suggested approach normally results in. 

So if four-year graduation rates are important to you and your family, for either the importance of reducing overall college costs or the importance of getting out and getting a job sooner, it is wise not to expect the colleges to provide much help.