KCSF News

One out of every two students who attend Community College drop out. Only 1 in 5 will get their degree in four years. Why?

I’m Nikolas Harter, and in this three part series produced out of the KCSF studios at the City College of San Francisco, I interview students and administrators, and break down statistics to come to some surprising conclusions about our flawed system of higher education.

If you don’t know what career you want to pursue, is going straight to college after high school really the best option? How is acquiring an education connected to success, happiness, and becoming an adult? These days, is our system of higher education even capable of raising the financial well-being of its students, or does it perpetuate society’s inequities?  

In Part 1, I approach this question of why 47% of students drop out of school by breaking down the data. Did you know “work responsibilities” is the number one reason students report for dropping out of school? It’s ironic, because “financial struggle” is the number one reason students go to college in the first place! We’ll meet a couple CCSF community members, and put some faces to the data. 

In Part 2, I explore the personal reasons for why a student might drop out with “F-Everything” Paul Lopez. Paul dropped out of school when he was 18. Back then, he didn’t know what he wanted to do, so he left school and moved up to the bay with his sister to get a full time job. Now he’s back, returning to school at C.C.S.F. at 22 years old. I told him about the high drop out rate at Community Colleges, and he told me he feels like a number. 

We’ll also meet the students from S.M.A.C. (students making a change), a student group on campus advocating for the rights of the school’s minority populations (and everyone else’s too). 80% of C.C. students in California are placed into remedial classes, and S.M.A.C. is not happy about it. It’s not just personal, or existential reasons for why so many students are dropping out. The system itself discourages students by preventing them from taking college level courses until they repeat High School Math and English. No wonder it takes most students (four out of five) more than four years to graduate. 

Thankfully, the C.C.S.F. administration has been made aware of the problem (thank you S.M.A.C.), and is implementing new systems, such as Guided Pathways, to channel students through college in a more efficient manner. 

In Part 3, I’ll share about my personal college experience, and square off with current C.C.S.F. student Brandon Powell. Is attending college about pursuing your dreams? Or making ends meet? Brandon shares some cockroach stories, and we debate what school and life is all about. 

Why should we value public schools? What’s the purpose of education, and how is becoming educated connected to success, happiness, and becoming an adult? All this and more on the final segment of College Dropout.

I’m Nikolas Harter for KCSF.