Why Is It Important to Finish College: Essay

Academic Advising is a complex process that will affect whether a student will be successful at a university or not ​(Balenger & Sedlacek, 1991). Good academic advising involves 'the dissemination of educational and career-related information students confronted who are in the process of developing and creating academic and career plans. One of the main ways for academic advising to be successful is constant contact between advisor and advisee while creating goals and milestones in areas related to academic, vocational, and personal issues so the student may find academic and continued success.

There has been a new focus on the American Higher Education arena. That focus is on student success. Current research suggests that higher education retention can never be the primary aim when supporting students because if retention is the primary goal, then there is never a motivation to graduate. College student success is and should be a goal of all involved with higher education.

College must first be accessible to all. In order for colleges to be accessible to all, they must be affordable. If you look at the past five years, the rising costs of college have fallen on the shoulders of students and families. Next higher education institutions must not only teach their students, but they must also engage their students outside of class. When thinking of student engagement, previous research shows that college students, more specifically freshmen and sophomore students need to be engaged in their educational experience to perform better, to not only have greater learning gains but also achieve higher levels of success.

When we think about student success, they are merely two simple words that when used together become a powerful, force-changing goal for the American Higher Education System. This goal comes to fruition in many different methods and ways and varies by institution. Some institutions focus on special populations of students choosing to create programs that focus on their success such as increasing first-year student retention rates and creating summer bridge programs that provide a space for historically underrepresented students. First-year experience programs that work in tandem with freshman orientation and other new student activities that ensure new student’s success on campus. There are many types of special student populations that make up the American Higher Education system, they include but are not limited to juvenile delinquents, incarcerated males, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or LGBTQ youth, and non-traditional learners and adult students. There is one single thing they have in common that student success personnel should pay attention to; There is not a single student in all of higher education who does not want to be successful, or who has the idea that they just want to fail. When it comes to student success every institution in the American Higher Education system, large publics, small privates, minority-serving, community colleges, technical and trade, and even online and for-profit institutions want each and everyone wants their student to succeed. When it comes to student success there are many different contributing factors.

We know that all students want to succeed, but too many do not, and the causes are not all their own fault. There are many many reasons that students aren't successful and some are successful. While most will students find it rewarding to establish meaningful supportive relationships with university faculty and staff (Strayhorn, 2011), some students find frequent and personal interactions with faculty and staff, intrusive and overwhelming. Practitioners in higher education should know that college student success is a function of many factors inside and outside of a student's scholastic life. The success of college students is just a function of the many processes of higher education and in regard to that success, it is important to note that academic preparation prior to college, usually via programs like dual enrollment, and early college programs plays a relatively minor part of that research (Strayhorn, 2011).