CSU graduation rate is shameful

Less than 20 percent of full-time California State University freshmen graduate in four years. Many take six years. A recent editorial stated many students, if not most, are the first in their families to attend college and 80 percent are on financial aid. And 80 percent of freshmen need remediation in English and math.

My question is, how did they qualify for college to begin with? Now The Bee supports maintaining funding for remediation and increasing support for more intensive mentoring and advising. That means a tax increase for us taxpayers.

In addition, it was stated that some students “didn’t finish in four years simply because, for whatever reason, they lacked the energy or the time to take the requisite 15 credits per semester, and settled for the 12-credit minimum required to maintain federal financial aid.”

State Sen. Steve Glazer wants to offer incentives to push these students to finish in four years to make room for new students. The editorial also said “that alone would solve one nagging problem – the 30,000 or so qualified CSU applicants turned away each year because of limits on funding and space.”

The word in the headline should have been “shameful” instead of “ouch.”

This story was originally published February 7, 2016 at 5:14 AM with the headline "CSU graduation rate is shameful."