According to a study done by the Melinda Gates Foundation, nearly three-quarters of students who dropped out of college said that work contributed to their decision, 54% identifying it as a major factor. Considering that, since 2008, only 55% of college students have graduated, finding out the causes and what happens after a dropout seem extremely relevant to in a college town. I want to get specific dropout rates for W.S.U. and interview three people.
One is Zack Waters, who stopped attending school two semesters ago but he continues to live in Pullman with the hope of getting back his financial aid and continuing college. While Zack is living here he has already had to start paying back loans whith funds that he could be saving up to help him when he returns to college. He has 15,000 dollars in student loans and, so far, no degree to show for it.
The second is Matt Grinnell, a student who lived in Pullman and then dropped out for a year, stating that he couldn’t handle working, studying, and being part of the Greek system. He is currently working full time and taking online classes with W.S.U.. He has already started paying back the interest on some of his loans but mostly he works to study and cover living expenses.
Conner Donovon is the third student. It is his first semester here at W.S.U. and he is working as much as he can to cover his expenses. He is dealing with what the other two cited as their reasons for dropping out. He is getting used to the schedule but says that it is hard to keep up with school and work, and that paying rent next month is always a something that stresses him out.
I think that with these three interviews as well as information on dropout rates (and how many people are working while studying) will paint a clear picture of what it is like to have to balance work and school and what happens if you don’t manage to do that.
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