The traditional narrative is that students who “drop out” of college don’t study enough. Let’s put that myth to rest. In our NSSE retention study, we found students who do not return for their sophomore year spend as much time on preparing for class as students who do return. Most of them are trying.
The bottom is line is that many students who don’t return to college are overextended. Not for effort or even ability, many of them simply run out of time. This issue is not unique to ISU.
Over-extension has the following implications:
- Non-returning students feel less belonging.
- Non-returning students have less time for interactions with other students. Many students express a desire for more interactions.
- Non-returning students are less certain about their place at ISU and in college in general.
Learning is impacted by emotions and our physical condition. I am continually surprised by how many folks who believe otherwise. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence. Exhaustion impacts cognitive functioning. The physical acts of commuting between work, class, and other obligations increases stress, indirectly impacting cognitive functioning.
The traditional separation of the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains is useful, but should be critically examined. I personally like how the medicine wheel, based on Indigenous ways of knowing, combines the domains and reflects how they are connected.
Unfortunately, over-extension has a lot to do with the costs of higher education. The intersection of time, learning, credentials, and costs is complex. There are solutions for many over-extended students, however.
Helping over-extended students
Pulling in ideas from professors, Beckie Supiano wrote an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about strategies for helping over-extended students. Cate Denial at Knox College wrote:
…I found that students struggled to get that reading done, be prepared for class, do the out-of-class research that they needed for their paper, and deal with everything else going on in their lives. So I changed my whole approach. Students set a goal at the beginning of class for what they’ll achieve that day — reading, writing, finding more sources, analysis — and then we all co-work together for the duration of class.
What to do when students don’t have time, Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/30/2024
Goal setting and giving students agency over their learning could work. Another professor in the article had a different experience:
I allowed an extra week for all the assignments, giving them feedback if they turned it in and allowing them to revise and resubmit as many times as they needed, or just letting them turn it in later. I also lowered the point value to make them lower in stakes. What this meant, in practice, is that students used my course to flex their time and focused on other priorities. Some students really thrived and did the resubmissions to do great work, but these were the more-privileged students who seemed less stressed by outside work.
What to do when students don’t have time, Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/30/2024
Helping students with low navigational capital is another strategy that could work. The University of Wisconsin has a good website to guide students in their decision-making. Many students may not know how to manage their time or what institutional resources are available to help.
Another strategy is to create spaces for students to engage in academic and co-curricular activities outside of class. Over-extended students use 30 to 60 increments of free time to be productive. One ISU commuter wrote:
I commute an hour to campus and am here most of the day due to gaps in my schedule. It’s hard to find a place to relax and study in private without distraction from other students.”
ISU student, NSSE 2023
I feel like ISU does a good job in this regard. Milner Library has a website with study spaces.
Working on campus
Students who work on campus witness better outcomes than students who work off-campus. These students built mentoring relationships with faculty and staff, learn practical skills, learn how to work with others, and develop belonging with staff and other students. Working on campus facilitates a sense of purpose, community, and value. Working on campus does take time, of course, and can be an issue if added to a set of obligations.
