1 / 12

UMass Boston’s New Urban Dilemma: Improving the Graduation Rates of Local Students

UMass Boston’s New Urban Dilemma: Improving the Graduation Rates of Local Students. The Issue. The Issue:. UMass Boston is increasing its recruitment of out-of-state and international students. Many international and out-of-state students are, presumably, from high-income families.

zarek
Download Presentation

UMass Boston’s New Urban Dilemma: Improving the Graduation Rates of Local Students

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. UMass Boston’s New Urban Dilemma: Improving the Graduation Rates of Local Students

  2. The Issue

  3. The Issue: • UMass Boston is increasing its recruitment of out-of-state and international students. • Many international and out-of-state students are, presumably, from high-income families. • Research shows that students from high- income families have better graduation rates than those from low-income families.

  4. The Issue: • The six-year graduation rate at UMass Boston is about 38%. • International and Asian students have the highest graduation rates at UMass Boston, while Black students and those from Latino backgrounds have the lowest.

  5. The Issue: • The university must improve the graduation rates among its students, in particular its Black student population, Latino student population, and low-income student population.

  6. Proposed Solutions

  7. Proposed Solutions 1) Devote research funds to the study of retention and graduation rates among students who struggle in these areas.

  8. Proposed Solutions: 2) Develop a curriculum that focuses on positive “character” traits that can lead to academic success (e.g., perseverance, impulse control, reaction to setbacks, optimism, curiosity etc.).

  9. Proposed Solutions: 3) Reach out to children when they’re young! Teach inexperienced parents how to nurture their newborns and teach positive “character” habits to pre-school and elementary school students. Both will have tremendous long-term benefits.

  10. Proposed Solutions: • If new on-campus housing is established, create a tutoring center within it, where those who live in the dorm – presumably many some students from international and out-of-state locations – could work with struggling students.

  11. Conclusion UMass Boston is a true urban university – “of the city,” as Peggy Elliott would say – that has provided many good services to Boston since the 1960’s. Although times have changed, it needs to maintain its urban mission, and enhancing graduation rates among certain minority and low-income students should be one of its top 21st century priorities.

  12. Thank You

More Related