Freshmen already know their ABCs when they get to college for the first time — but they may be unaware of the three M's that could stand between them and graduation — money, missions and marriage.
In Utah's nine state colleges and universities, only 51.9 percent of the female freshmen and 34.83 percent of the males were enrolled at the same institution in 2000 after completing the 1999 freshman year, according to the State Office of Higher Education.
Although there are many reasons why students do not complete their higher education in consecutive years — some not at all — the three M's are the "main reasons we find freshmen don't return," said Lynn Schiffman, dean of students at Snow College.
In Utah, the missionary M accounts for the majority of the attrition between freshman and sophomore years. At the Ephraim school, where more than 90 percent of the student body are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of the 873 male students who enrolled at Snow in the fall of 1999, only 228 of that cohort (26.1 percent) could be counted on the rolls at the beginning of the 2000 academic year. At Dixie State College in St. George, the returning rate of males is even lower, at 24.1 percent.
Ironically, some of the female students at Snow, hoping that the M-for-Marriage factor might affect their education, are frustrated, Schiffman said, because their male counterparts, focused on the prospects of the M-for-Mission, "just aren't interested."
The church encourages all 19-year-old males to spend up to two years as full-time missionaries, and that practice makes Utah's retention rates between the first and second years of college look bad, Schiffman said. Many of those who serve missions return home and enroll in college again, but not always at the same institution.
Female members of the church may fill missions as well, but they must wait until they are 21, so they do not impact the freshman/sophomore retention statistics so dramatically.
The two-year missionary hiatus, hard as it is on the statistics, is not all that bad, said Anand K. Dyal-Chand, vice president for student affairs at Weber State College. "They come back more mature, more ready for higher education."
Commissioner for Higher Education Cecelia Foxley prefers the term "stopping out" to "dropping out." Although tracking is difficult, she believes most of those who are not on the rolls at the beginning of the second year will be at some time in the future. And while a degree should be the ultimate objective, any amount of education cannot be considered a loss, she said.
But even if the missionary factor is subtracted out, there are many students who enroll one year and don't return the next. The high attrition rate is a concern.
Marriage is a definite factor in Utah, where people tend to marry younger and have families sooner. Women, in particular, are prone to put education on hold, giving preference to the husband's schooling, Foxley said.
Some students continue their education, but at a different school. Between 1999 and 2000, 1,016 female students were known to have transferred within the state system, and 492 males.
One of the challenges to the state's higher education system at the outset is the number of students who want to get in. Utah has had a historic penchant for higher education, leading the country in the number of high school graduates who say they will go on to college — more than 80 percent.
Not all of those who make the declaration actually go, but some do who are not well-prepared for college, have no specific objectives in mind and find themselves floundering after the first go-round. These tend to become part of the attrition rate.
There has been a mismatch between the number who see college as the route to a good job and the actual job market, said Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan. Some 80 percent of Utah's jobs require some post-high school education, but not a four-year degree.
Hillyard, who chairs the appropriations subcommittee for higher education, is greatly concerned that the state may not be able to fund all of the demand for higher education, particularly as an economic "high" appears to be leveling off, signaling an era of declining tax revenues.
The long-time senator represents a school of thought that too many Utah high school graduates go on to post-high school education, at least at the college/university level. There are other alternatives, such as applied technology education, that offer good job opportunities without such a lengthy commitment to education, he believes.
Many of the freshmen entering the state's institutions for higher education are there for the wrong reasons — including parental nudging, Hillyard said.
Such philosophies notwithstanding, students continue to line up at Utah's universities and colleges in growing numbers, with an anticipated 2.2 percent annual increase over the next 20 years, projections predict.
Foxley agrees that some college freshmen are not as focused as others. Utah's robust economy in recent years also has been a magnet to draw some students into the workplace and either temporarily or permanently out of college, she said, especially if their goals for higher education are not set.
Southern Utah University's dean of students, Noel Cox, agrees that a good economy, ironically, will reduce the demand on higher education. During economic downturns when jobs are scarce, education seems the better choice for students who are wavering. He would like to see a more efficient method of tracking students to better identify drop-out and stop-out patterns.
Foxley predicted that the recent creation of the Utah College for Applied Technology will provide a good alternative for some students. It will give those who want the "legitimacy" of a college education that option, leading to an associate degree if they choose. They will then have the opportunity to use that degree to move on to other institutions within the system if they decide on a higher level of education, she said.
The freshman-to-sophomore decline has implications for funding, staffing, student housing and other aspects of university life. Because the drop is historic, Utah's universities and colleges anticipate it and plan accordingly, but if for some reason the first-year students all returned as sophomores, "that would be a nice problem to have," said Cox.
Attrition is higher among the smaller schools in the Utah system. The "mission" equation probably has more effect on these campuses off the Wasatch Front, where the ratio of LDS to non-LDS residents is greater. And the schools may attract more students who are timid about a large-school atmosphere and prefer to get their feet wet on a less intimidating campus. Many use the smaller school as a springboard, moving on after the first year has prepared them for a larger campus.
Some are able to fulfill their education goals with an associate degree or a certificate of competency that requires even less time.
Schiffman of Snow College said baccalaureate degree offerings on the Ephraim campus, offered through a partnership with Utah State University, are providing a longer college experience there for students who prefer the small-town culture.
The University of Utah has the highest freshman retention rate (70.14 percent for females, 51.3 percent males for an overall rate of 59.53 percent). Stayner Landward, dean of students, believes there may be some reasons for the relatively high retention.
The U. has a higher academic standard for entering freshmen and may skim off the "cream" of high school students, said Landward. These students may be more focused and more certain of their educational objectives. The U. also offers the greatest number of postgraduate programs, to accommodate students looking for a "seamless" route to an advanced degree.
In addition, although the U. doesn't escape the mission factor, it has a reputation as a more liberal school, and that may discourage some very conservative LDS students, he said.
Even with its comparatively high retention figures, the university is concerned at the number of students lost between the first and second years.
An internal study conducted by Jeff E. Hoyt of academic planning and analysis and Andre H. Baksh, senior library specialist, looked at attrition in the freshman class that started at the U. in the fall of 1998. Of those 2,188 freshmen, 872 (about 40 percent) were not enrolled at the U. when the 1999 school year began. Telephone surveys were conducted among a random sample of 327 of those non-returning students to determine why they were not continuing their classes at the U. Surveyors successfully contacted 231 of those selected.
Predictably, the survey showed that about 48 percent of the "no-shows" were LDS students who had turned 19 and left to serve missions. "The study results show that missionaries create the perception that the university has a relatively high one-year drop-out rate," the study says. When this factor is eliminated from the results, a 73 percent retention rate is realized.
The researchers determined 253 of the original class had merely transferred to another institution. About a third of those went out of state, while 28 percent shifted to Salt Lake Community College, presumably to get requisite general education classes at a lower price and on a smaller, less stressful campus.
Reasons given by the non-LDS "drop-outs" surveyed included money issues (37 percent); too-large classes (29 percent); stress related to college life (27 percent); and their own poor performance (23 percent.) Smaller percentages cited dissatisfaction with instruction, social isolation, inability to get into courses of interest, unfriendly or unresponsive staff, dissatisfaction with housing or other student services and a feeling of not being safe on campus.
Large research universities often increase class sizes in general education courses so they can reduce numbers in postgraduate classes, but "as competition for students by other nearby campuses increases, large class sizes will be a disadvantage to the university in retaining students," the researchers said.
Some of the reasons offered in this survey add up to another "M" — Mistake. A certain number of those who start college find it doesn't meet their expectations for whatever reason, and they opt for other routes to a livelihood.
Hoyt and Baksh gave several suggestions for countering the problems raised in the survey: more concerted attempts to help students via financial aid; lowering numbers in general education classes and involving more professors in these classes, rather than relying on teaching assistants; possibly increasing the use of electronically delivered courses; improving the sense of community on the campus; and conducting ongoing evaluation of student satisfaction with programs and services.
E-mail: tvanleer@desnews.com