Freshman Year Center, cultural resource centers aid in improving first-year retention

While the dropout rate at the University of Arizona ranks among the highest compared to peer institutions, the UA retention rate has not changed in the last 10 years.

Rick Kroc, director of the Office of Assessment and Enrollment Research, said that the retention rate has held steady - at 77 percent - for the last 10 years and that students are taking less time to graduate.

"The UA is graduating more students and they are graduating faster," Kroc said.

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Not all "dropout" experiences the same

By Kevin Clerici

Arizona Daily Wildcat

Elaine Kozuka is proud of her dropout son.

He's working, on his Mormon Church mission in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., but is nonetheless categorized among University of Arizona's freshman dropouts, according to a study released by U.S. News and World Report.

The study found 23 percent of UA freshmen drop out before their sophomore year.

The term "dropout" is defined as any student who enrolls in the fall semester who is not enrolled the following fall semester, said Rick Kroc, director of assessment and enrollment research. Official enrollment is calculated 21 days into the semester.

"I have never thought of him as a dropout," said Kozuka, a UA student herself, studying molecular and cellular biology. "I know they have to use language, but the term is a bit misleading. My son is a smart, dedicated college student."

The figures, though, are correct - more than two out of every 10 freshmen do leave college, and most drop out because they were not prepared for the academic rigors or the financial burden, Kroc said.

Kroc also said university staff and administration use the terms "stopouts" and "exiters" rather than "dropout." Of the 23 percent who do not re-enroll at the UA, 60 percent of those students enroll at other institutions. Many attend Pima Community College and return.

UA's admission standards are considered relatively liberal - a student must have at least a 2.5 grade-point average or graduate in the top half of his or her class. But at the University of California at Berkeley, an institution in the same peer group in which retention statistics are compared with the UA, students must graduate in the top 12.5 percent of their class to be considered for admission.

The average GPA for incoming freshmen is 3.4, Kroc said. "A lot of freshmen enter considering themselves as well prepared, but that is not always the case."

Some of the reasons for "exiters" - taken from U.S. News's "America's Best Colleges 2000" - include:

o They do not break away from high school friends and family.

o They do not accept their role as college students.

o They do not bond with college socially, academically, or both.

Sylvia Mioduski, director of the Freshman Year Center, added that some freshmen get married, while others have medical problems.

Mioduski also said most students that come to the FYC want to learn about other schools because they could not come to terms with Arizona's environment.

"They are not dropping out," said Mioduski. "These are bright students who are going through a difficult transition in their life."

"There are certain realities that begin to hit and sometimes that involves leaving school, albeit temporarily or for another university," she added.

Kozuka's son, Eli Weissgarbar, 19, completes his mission this summer and plans to return to the university in August.

"The term 'dropout' is a sweeping category that overgeneralizes," Kroc said. "But that doesn't dismiss the situation. To fix the problem there has to be three levels of responsibility.