How Coronavirus could sink college graduation rates

As a part of the class of 2023, I just moved into college last August. Due to the exponential spread of COVID-19 across the US, though, I’ve already moved out before the end of my second semester.

With travel restrictions in place, many summer internships, vacations, etc. have been canceled. Our professional and social lives as students are now on hold.

It’s harder to find a source of motivation. Succeeding in college means finding a balance between your social life, professional career, and academics. At home in the midst of a pandemic, our balance is thrown off.

Adjusting to online classes has been rough. The majority of my professors have also found this change to be less than manageable. My exams are now online and proctored via Zoom so as to combat cheating. Because of the increased ability to cheat on online exams, professors have made exams longer and more difficult. Colleges around the nation are already thinking about using remote-learning until January 2021.

The uncertainty of our future means many students may choose to take a break from school and take a gap semester or gap year(s). Most of us don’t want to pay thousands in tuition to sit at home on a computer all day, which is why a gap year could be the right choice for some students.

During gap years, students tend to focus on working, volunteering, or traveling. In this unprecedented time of social distancing, however, these opportunities are not readily available. This could result in more students pursuing unstructured gap years which are more likely to take students off the path of higher-education.

So, does taking a gap year right now mean you’re basically dropping out? No! Everyone’s gap year is different, but I encourage you to use your time productively so that when you do return to school, you’ll be able to handle the pace and structure of it again.

What we can ultimately infer is that as more and more students take time off from school, the graduation rate of four-year institutions in the US will decrease.

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