^Yes, that was going to be my point. I’m not even sure if there’s a meaningful statistical difference between 56% and 52%.
But eve if there is, the article says it all:
The low graduation rate shouldn’t come as a big surprise. The recession drove people to attend college who wouldn’t have gone otherwise and who were likely less prepared than other students. Many of them ended up in worse shape than if they hadn’t gone to college in the first place: burdened with thousands of dollars in student debt, but without a degree to show for it. The disappointing results emphasize yet again that merely encouraging people to attend college isn’t enough. We also have to find ways to help them graduate, too.
The only part I disagree with is the last. I think, instead, that we should combat credentials creep and make sure that there are good opportunities for people without college degrees, because most of the jobs in our economy probably don’t require one. Not that I don’t think we should improve college access for low-income and disadvantaged kids - I was one myself, and I’m passionate about and involved in increasing college access for that group. But trying to push everyone, including unprepared and unmotivated students, to go to and finish college isn’t a good idea either. Even if these underprepared students finish, their grades might be so poor that they struggle to find work anyway, or they may perform poorly at a job that requires a BA because it needs a base level of critical thinking skills.
Some of those students simply shouldn’t have gone to college.