Despite multiple setbacks, Thais Evans is on track to obtaining his college degree.
UF education junior Evans, 26, is one of the 4.5 million non-first time students who went back to college after taking a break.
According to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 66 percent of students who re-enroll never get their degree.
“There are a host of reasons for that,” said Angeleah Browdy, the director for the UF Office of Academic Support.
Browdy said financial issues, lack of family support and academic trouble could be possible reasons for students to stop their schooling and drop out, or “stop out.”
“Although UF is concerned about retention, stopouts aren’t necessarily at the forefront of what they think about,” she said.
UF’s 2011 retention rate was 95.98 percent, and since 2003, it has been between 95 and 96 percent. Although UF’s four-year graduation rate is 65 percent, the six-year graduation rate is higher at 86.51 percent.
“We have a really high retention rate because of the kind of students we bring in,” said Jeanna Mastrodicasa, the assistant vice president for Student Affairs. “We don’t have a lot of nontraditional-age students or part-time students.”
Browdy said UF could add more centralized support services and create an institutionalized research project on the topic.
“The research project can help delve deeper into why these students leave UF,” she said. “As far as I’m concerned, we can’t afford to have any subpopulation without a degree.”
For Evans, there were a number of factors that played into his delayed decision on reapplying, he said. Evans took several breaks during his time as a Sante Fe College student after he lost his financial aid due to academic obstacles.
“Some people, they stop for 20 years, and they come back and decide they want to get a degree,” Evans said. “It would be good if there was someone who you could talk to, who could be an adviser.”
UF offers resources to students like Evans who have had to stop and start their college experience again.
The Fresh Start Program is designed to assist former UF undergraduate students who have been dismissed from UF and want to pursue readmission after an absence of no fewer than five years, according to the UF advising website.
Mastrodicasa said she understands that life gets in the way.
“We are always looking for ways to support our students,” she said.
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 11/19/2014]
