A Spartan for life.
On May 2, my sister will make her way across the commencement graduation stage at the Breslin Center.
I hope she doesn’t pee her pants from excitement.
She is well-prepared and eager to enter the world as a professional communication arts and sciences graduate.
Since her time here is almost up, it got me thinking about the process of graduation and what it takes to earn a four-year degree. Four years goes by quickly, and sooner rather than later, we will all hopefully be part of Spartan alumni groups.
But not everyone decides to be a Spartan for life. For some students, MSU is merely a temporary stage of life or worse, a mistake.
Throughout the course of earning a four-year college degree at MSU, nearly 23 percent of students drop out, according to collegemeasures.org.
Compared to other Big Ten schools, MSU’s retention rate is low. The University of Michigan and Northwestern University hold 10.5 and 6.4 percent dropout rates respectively.
I can’t imagine what would make someone not want to finish a college career at MSU, but I could guess it has something to do with transferring, the cost-of-living, academics, tuition or a mixture of reasons. I am sure about one thing — my sister and I will not be part of the 23 percent who dropout of MSU.
A pay-it-forward tuition pilot program could help solve MSU’s retention rate. Under the proposed bill in Michigan’s legislature, students in the state of Michigan would be able to finish college tuition-free. But there’s a catch. After graduation, the student would be required to pay 4 percent of their post-graduation earnings where one year of college would be equivalent to five years of payments.
For a four-year university graduate, it would take 20 years to pay off. The funds the graduate earns are then funneled into an account used to pay for current college students in the program. Could this program keep students in college, and more importantly keep them at MSU? The bill is awaiting action, according to a Detroit Free Press article, but establishing a high retention rate will be a long-term process.
When I see MSU falls short on the list of other Big Ten schools for graduation rate, I also start questioning what the school is doing wrong. MSU is dedicated to academic excellence and has national prestige, which I had assumed attracted college students from around the world.
A Spartan for now.
As I near the end of my second year at MSU, East Lansing feels like home to me, as I’m sure it does for many students.
MSU has given me so many more opportunities already. I feel bad for those that choose to drop out, who will no longer be able to call themselves Spartans. MSU gave me the chance to share a class with my sister, who is four years older than me, for the first time in my life. We sat in digital image lecture and giggled at each other every week for a semester. These are moments I will remember for the rest of my life.
I don’t want to see my college years end just yet, but I’m hopeful I will get my chance to walk across the ceremonial stage in my cap and gown and be able to take my final picture next to Sparty before I start my career.
Fear could deter some MSU students from graduating. College is the calm before the storm. The learn everything you can, while trying to make it on your own and maybe party your face off to balance out your social life period of trials and errors. You will mess up. You will make mistakes. But it should all be worth it in the end, right?
If I choose not to go to school, the automated attendance telephone system isn’t going to call to alert my parent’s machine at home that I wasn’t there. This happened frequently when I was in high school.
College is an individual decision. The reality is that a considerable amount of students will not fulfill prior aspirations to earn a degree from MSU. I feel bad for the people who will miss the opportunity to be a Spartan alum, shouting “Go Green!” in bars across America during championship games.
MSU will also connect me to a network of accredited employers and job openings I wouldn’t have had access to otherwise. From day one, the goal has remained the same: to invest in my future and follow in my sister’s footsteps of graduating from MSU. I’d much prefer the experience and lifelong achievement I will gain by not becoming part of a college drop out statistic, and I praise my sister for doing the same.
Helping students make it through their time at MSU needs to be a bigger priority. Let’s help Spartans stay in school.
Cayden Royce is a journalism sophomore. Reach her at roycecay@msu.edu.
