College admission/attrition rates

Parents Forum
1

<p>Is there much public discussion about the number of students who get accepted and even pay the deposit but then, for whatever reason, do not attend?</p>

<p>Is the rate of attrition of students who actually attend the college they say they re going up? Or is this information a closely guarded secret?</p>

<p>We fall in the camp of having paid the depost for both the school and the dorm -- which is a drop in the bucket compared to the total cost of the school -- but then when my son went to the orientation weekend, he decided the college just wasn't the right fit for him.</p>

<p>I imagine because the cost of college -- tuition and room and board -- is going up at a rate so much higher than the rate of inflation that there are far more students or parents making these last minute decisions than there were a few years ago.</p>

<p>My son will be doing at least a semester at a community college before starting in January at a different school.</p>

<p>I'm also surprised at the number of his friends who also are starting at the community college -- or going back to the community college after a semester or two of a four-year school -- mainly because of the lack of money/reluctance or impossibilty of going deeply into debt.</p>

2

<p>the statistic you are looking for is known as “summer melt”, at least for freshman. Google it; I believe there are some statistics out there.</p>

3

<p>The economy is very tough right now. Tuition costs really swelled at rates far greater than inflation when houses had lots of equity. Cost are out of wack. Community Colleges is a good option for a lot of middle-class Americans right now.</p>

4

<p>I’ve personally known two summer melt kids–one met a boy (later her husband) and didn’t want to go out of state to school anymore; with another, it was a money problem. Some of the summer melt occurs because kids get taken off a waitlist, even at this late date.</p>

5

<p>I hadn’t heard the term “summer melt”; it’s a great term.</p>

6

<p>One of d1’s summer co-workers packed up, drove to state flagship, got there and told the folks she couldn’t do it. Starts at the local CC today while she figures it out. There are a ton reasons for the summer melt.</p>