Myth Versus Reality
Mythbusting college stopouts
Myth
You don’t need a college degree to be successful.
Reality
Although stories about highly successful college dropouts make for viral headlines, they believe the advantages these outliers enjoyed—advantages unavailable to the 40.4 other million Americans with no degree. In one recent study, 94% of the most influential innovators and leaders surveyed had graduated from college.
Myth
"Dropout" and "Stopout" are synonymous.
Reality
“Dropout” refers to a student who never returns to complete the degree. ReUp uses the term “stopouts” because most students who leave school do so because of unforeseen circumstances and not by choice. Stopouts have the potential to finish college with proper mentoring, financial support, and a conducive learning environment.
Myth
The impact of stopout students is limited to loss of institutional revenue and decreases in the individuals’ lifetime earnings.
Reality
A college degree also increases students’ health, life expectancy, civic and community engagement, and increased lifetime taxes that help expand social programs. Supporting college completion is therefore an economic and moral imperative for individuals, institutions, and society at large.
So given the myths and realities of stopout students, what do students need to return to school? There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but there are many supports institutions can work toward providing:
- Education on the value of a college degree
- Peer mentoring
- Expanded academic tutoring
- Flexible credit transfer
- Flexible class scheduling (especially online)
- Improved availability of required courses
- Childcare
- Small classes
- Engaged faculty advisors
- Community-building exercises
- Expanded financial aid options
- Accessible and personalized career counseling
Let’s start the conversation
Schedule a call with a ReUp team member to learn more about what a ReUp partnership could do for your institution.