HigherEd
Defining Student Success
New Study Shows That Students Are Helped by Making College Better, Not Cheaper
Helping students succeed also involves a different intuition, however, one that every student unable to take required courses because of waiting lists or limited sections understands: Finishing college is less likely if the school isn’t very good and can’t afford quality academic programs.
This is absolutely true, but it might be overlooking a much simpler problem: how do we define “success” for students? Should it simply be whether they pass courses or graduate, or should it factor in how much the student has actually learned and how prepared the student is for life after college? Grades are, ultimately, arbitrary. And when the institution has a vested interest in seeing students succeed (by the limited definition used in basically all education-focused legislation), the likelihood that a student who has not mastered the material will pass anyway—still succeeding by the State and institutional standards—drastically increases while the likelihood of succeeding in life after college undoubtedly decreases. This problem is exacerbated by the funding issues mentioned in the piece. If colleges had the money to invest on a per student basis, I have no doubt they would like to invest that money in driving actual success — making sure that students understood the material and that the degree they received was earned rather than purchased. This is likely one of the things the authors mean by “quality academic programs.” But, as things are, cash-strapped colleges are more likely to pad numbers or water down expectations. These are more affordable solutions to an expensive problem.