More college students are dropping out during Covid. It could get worse

[marmar]

(Guardian UK) College took a back seat the moment Izzy B called the suicide hotline.

Izzy, 18, had spent her senior year of high school online. Then she’d gone straight to online summer school at a local community college near Denver. When in-person classes there started this past fall, she was glad to be back in the classroom and finally experiencing some real college life.

But after Omicron forced classes back online late in the semester, Izzy, who was living with her parents, felt overwhelmed by loneliness; she struggled to focus on her schoolwork and enjoy life.

“We’re at this age where we’re supposed to be hanging out with our friends and socializing,” she said. “It definitely affected my mental health.”

....(snip)....

Thousands of other students around the country are leaving college – some because of mental health issues, others for financial or family reasons. Educators worry that many have left for good.

Of the 2.6 million students who started college in fall 2019, 26.1%, or roughly 679,000, didn’t come back the next year, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. That was an increase of two percentage points over the previous year, and the highest share of students not returning for their sophomore year since 2012. The dropout spike was even more startling for community college students like Izzy, with an increase of about 3.5 percentage points. .............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/10/college-students-dropout-covid-pandemic

[exboyfil]

1. My daughter did her Data Analytics masters at the perfect time

Most of her classes were going to be an hour away. Covid changed that to online so no more commute.

She was pleased. About the only good thing that came out of Covid.