EGL 1010 Proposal Essay

8/19/2019 EGL 1010 Proposal Essay

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Instructor

English 1010

8 August 2015

A Call to Action for College Completion Proposal

On just about every college and university campus across America, dual challenges have

been issued to broaden opportunities to get more students enrolled in college and to get more

students to the finish line of college completion. In researching this issue, it became clear early

on that while just about every community college in America has some type of completion

agenda--the major stumbling block to implementation is largely due to lack of funding and, of

course, in the middle of this issue are the actual students. While a degree is considered vital to

success, a large portion of today’s students fr om middle income households are finding it

difficult to cover the expenses of attending college full-time and are opting to attend college part-

time. According to the article “Paying for College,” journalist Mary Cooper asserts that “for

more than a decade, the cost of higher education has been growing at almost twice the rate of

inflation…colleges and universities have been struggling to survive serious funding cutbacks by

raising tuition, increasing class size, cutting faculty and dropping academic programs,” causing a

significant decline in college completion across America.

How does this effect college completion? According to “Complete College America;

Groundbreaking Report: ‘Time is the Enemy’ of Today's College Student,” the nontraditional

students--defined by the National Center for Education Statistics as “meeting one of seven

characteristics: delayed enrollment into postsecondary education; attends college part-time;

works full time; is financially independent for financial aid purposes; has dependents other than a

spouse; is a single parent; or does not have a high school diploma (Pelletier)--make up the


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majority of the student population. Those criteria fit a wide range of today’s college students.

The article, “Time is the Enemy” notes that “seventy-five percent of students are college

commuters who often juggle families, jobs and school,” while only “twenty-five percent of the

students attend full-time at residential colleges.” The article also notes that of the seventy-five

percent of those nontraditional students, approximately forty percent of those students attend

college part-time with alarming graduation rates. According to that same study, part-time

students taking a one-year certificate program, takes about two years to complete with only

12.2% of those students graduating; a two-year associates program takes part-time students an

average of four years to complete with only a 7.8% success rate of those students graduating;

while a four-year bachelor’s degree takes part-time students an average of eight years to

complete with a 24.3% success rate of those students graduating (Education Letter).

The alarming graduation rates in America is what moved the President of the United

States to issue a call of action. In the White House Press Release, “The President and First

Lady’s Call to Action on College Opportunity,” President Obama asserts that the United States

should lead the world in college attainment as it did a generation ago. He notes that because

completing college is key to strengthening the middle class and should not be a luxury for the

few. To kick-off his agenda, the President increased Pell Grants by $1,000 a year, created the

new American Opportunity Tax Credit worth up to $10,000 over four years of college, capped

student loan payments to 10 percent of monthly income, and laid out an ambitious agenda to

reduce college costs and promote innovation and competition in higher education (Targeted

News Service). Also getting on board the White House college completion agenda is the

National Governor’s Association (NGA), an instrument through which the nation’s governors

collectively influence the development and implementation of national policies and applies


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creative leadership to state issues. Its members are the governors of the 50 states, three

territories and two commonwealths. NGA’s report draws upon recommendations of the NGA

Center’s Work Group on College Completion Metrics and asserts that “the longer it takes for

students to get through college, the more life gets in the way” (Education Letter).

As we move closer to the doorsteps of Prince George’s Community College, we see that

the neighboring Maryland State University is also making strides in its college completion

initiatives. According to the University of Maryland’s Policy Brief, “Academic

Transformations: Redesigning College Remedial Courses to Achieve Equity,” the university is

diligently seeking ways to get students to the goal of college completion in the shortest amount

of time possible. The strategies being sought include redesigning some courses that will

implement effective learning tools to increase Maryland post-secondary institutions to increase

graduation rates by approximately 13,000 students every year. By 2025, Maryland’s goal is to

increase graduation rates by 11%; a challenge issued by Governor Martin O’Mally in 2010 to

obtain double-digit increase in college completion within the state (Klasik, Knepler and

Sunderman). While that specific article focuses primarily on redesigning remedial education, the

big picture of Governor Martin O’Mally’s challenge is to increase Maryland’s college

completion rates.

Piggy- backing off of Maryland University’s redesign idea, my proposal calls for a trial

study implementing an aggressive restructuring of Prince George’s Community College’s

College (hereinafter “PGCC”) registration process. The trial period would last for the

registration period allotted prior to the start of fall or spring semester using twenty to twenty-five

incoming freshman. The restructured registration process would require joint cooperation from

students, the Office of Admissions and admission counselors to be fully engaged and


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accountable in the entire registration to completion process working together in new and

productive ways. This would include all involved parties to honor PGCC’s current “Completion

Pledge” (Completion Pledge). The restructured registration process would begin with students’

identification number being assigned to their chosen major as well as to an assigned college

completion advisor. For first year students, the registration process would include mandatory

orientation, followed by a session with an assigned admission’s counselor and together both

student and advisor would develop a strategic college completion plan that would allow that

student to graduate in the shortest amount of time. This may require improvement of faculty

engagement to enable advisors to identify and offer the best strategic plan and shortened time to

degree completion. According to PGCC’s “Survey of Entering Student Engagement” 2012 Key

Findings, its aggregated percentage in aspects of lowest student engagement are abysmal with

only 29% students strongly agreeing that they are able to meet with an academic advisor at

convenient times; 21% strongly agreeing that their advisor helped them set academic goals and

create a plan for achieving them, 25.9% of students strongly agreeing that a college staff member

helped them determine if they qualified for financial assistance and only 39% strongly agreeing

that at least one staff member learned their name (Office of Planning, Assessment, and

Institutional Research). Ironically, page 2 of that survey highlights the value of a clear academic

plan and pathway noting:

“ when a student, with knowledgeable assistance, creates a road map— one that shows

where he or she is headed, what academic path to follow, and how long it will take to

reach the end goal — that student has a critical tool for staying on track. Students are

more likely to persist if they not only are advised about that courses to take, but also are


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helped to set academic goals and to create a plan for achieving them.” (Office of

Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research)

Once the college completion plan has been finalized, students registering for classes will

only have access to those specific courses outlined on his or her strategic completion plan. As

the students advance towards their degrees and need to register for classes, the interactive

computer system would issue an alert letting students know which courses are still needed and

are available for the semester. Availability would be inclusive of all on-campus, on-line and

accelerated courses, much like its current system. If a student is attempting to register for a class

included in his or her completion plan and that class happens to be full to capacity, then the

system would issue an alert providing alternative classes that are required and available, but have

not yet been met. By connecting the completed courses to the strategic plan, it allows student to

track their progress while keeping the vision of graduation attainable and front and center. For

example, Pearson’s summer on-line English course provided students with a list of assignments

that were required to be completed each week. As students worked their way through

assignments, a green check would appear alerting that which assignments had been completed.

Additionally, a red checkmark would appear for those assignments that still needed to be

completed. The system allowed students to track their progress with assignment completion,

much like what I am proposing in the restructuring of the registration process.

PGCC needs to strengthen its resolve in its college completion agenda. The trial

restructuring of the registration process should be included in PGCC’s FY’15 and FY’16

combined budget of $17,000 under area goals of “evaluation current programs and services to

determine each department’s effectiveness” (Envision Success FY2014-FY2017). By

restructuring the registration process and making college completion its number one priority, all


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students registering for classes would be greeted with their strategic completion plan to guide

them forward. As an emphasis, all students looking to apply to PGCC should be greeted with the

college completion agenda and should be informed of its meaning.

Critics of strategic completion plans will most likely refer to “policies and procedures

contrary to the completion agenda…often viewed as a challenge within an existing challenge”

(The Completion Agenda: A Call to Action). Those same critics will also have limited

conversations about what exactly needs to change. The good news is that some colleges and

states are doing and meeting the completion challenge. For example, North Idaho College

redesigned its technical education programs using a similar proposal. College leaders also

created building blocks: one semester, one year, applied associate, and applied baccalaureate,

and is currently seeing an increase in completion rates (The Completion Agenda: A Call to

Action).

At present, PGCC’s website provides a banner under the Blackboard link, which is

lightly shaded and difficult to read stating, “Envision Success, take the journey, complete your

degree” (Completion Pledge). There is absolutely no indication that one should click on the

“Envision” banner. I only noticed the link by allowing my curiosity to get the best of me and

deciding to click to see if something would happen. That action lead me to PGCC’s Completion

Pledge. Unfortunately, when I attempted to download the pledge as instructed by the website, I

discovered its link inoperable. While PGCC’s “Envision Plan FY2014 - FY2017” claims to

“represent the collaborative efforts of the entire college community to develop a strategic

direction that focuses our efforts and resources on opportunities to enhance student success and

institutional effectiveness . . . and achieve our Mission,” its commitment is contradicted. On

page 3 of “Strategic Goal 1: Enhancing pathways that guide students to achieve their academic,


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career, and personal goals,” the boxes under “Redesign curriculum to promote retention and

completion,” zero dollars were allocated in years 2014-2017 to establish required enrollment and

completion parameters. Moreover, on page 4 of under the section “Institutional Priority: Expand

Innovative models for delivery of courses, programs, and services,” exactly zero dollars were

allocated to “Establish program completion measur ements consistent with state-wide standards”

(Envision Success).

In conclusion, a trial study implementing an aggressive restructuring of PGCC’s

registration as I have proposed will allow PGCC to better meet the needs of its students and

support its college completion agenda. Once PGCC strengthens its resolve in its college

completion agenda and makes the decision to integrate this proposal of streamlining its

registration process, it will encourage and increase student enrollment. By providing those

students with a strategic completion plan and staff support, it will not only retain students, it will

allow them to see that college completion is attainable. PGCC’s “Survey of Entering Student

Engagement” 2012 Key Findings, revealed that a better support system is needed (Office of

Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research). With the teamwork of PGCC students,

faculty and staff, PGCC will move in the right direction to obtaining its college completion goals

by 2017.


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Works Cited

“Complete College America; Groundbreaking Report: ‘Time is the Enemy’ of Today's College

Student.” Education Letter (2011): 82. ProQuest Web. 22 July 2015.

“Completion Pledge.” Prince George's Community College: Prince George's Community

College, Web. 30 July 2015.

Cooper, Mary H. "Paying for College." CQ Researcher 20 Nov. 1992: 1001-24. Web. 18 July

2015.

"Envision Success FY2014-FY2017." Prince George's Community College: Prince George's

Community College, Web. 30 July 2015.

Klasik, Daniel, Erin Knepler, Gail Sunderman. “Academic Transformations: Redesigning

College Remedial Courses to Achieve Equity.” Maryland Equity Project, The University

of Maryland, College Park, MD (2014).

Pelletier, Stephen. “Success for Adult Students.” Public Purpose. 2010: 2 – 6. Web.

http://www.aascu.org/uploadedFiles/AASCU/Content/Root/MediaAndPublications/Publi

cPurposeMagazines/Issue/10fall_adultstudents.pdf

"Office of Planning, Assessment, and Institutional Research." Prince George's Community

College: 2012. Web. 02 Aug. 2015.

“The Completion Agenda: A Call to Action” American Association of Community Colleges:

2011. Web. 01 Aug. 2015.

"The President and First Lady's Call to Action on College Opportunity." Targeted News Service

Dec 04 2014. ProQuest. Web. 1 Aug. 2015.

EGL 1010 Proposal Essay

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