Four Year Liberal Arts Institutions Essay

Four-year Liberal Arts institutions pride their academic programs on giving students the life skills to be productive members of today’s society. Critical thinking, the ability to communicate globally, and a rigorous curriculum are the essential elements of a liberal arts program. These components allow graduates to become life learners who will enter the workforce with better skills than students who attend other institutions of higher education (Sullivan, 2016).

To achieve these goals, the entering freshman need to be at a certain level academically. Unfortunately, first-generation college students are more likely to come to college under-prepared than their peers, and less likely to persist. In a 2006 Pell Institute report, Engle, Bermeo, & O’Brien found:

Even among students who expected to earn bachelor’s degrees and attended four-year institutions, first-generation students were much more likely to leave (29 versus 13 percent) and much less likely to earn a degree (47 versus 78 percent) than students whose parents had a college degree (p.19)

This disparity continues to be problematic for students who enter four-year institutions with the aspirations of graduating with a bachelor’s degree.

The small midwestern liberal arts college this study focusses on struggles with this issue. In exit interviews with the Dean of Students, FG students often state “financial issues” as their primary reason for withdrawing. However, in conversations with other staff members, FG students will state other factors for their departure. While taking the students’ excuses at face value is simple, institutions must delve into other possibilities for student departures. Tinto (2006) states, “While many institutions tout the importance of increasing student retention, not enough have taken student retention seriously”