Only 44 percent of students attending one of Florida’s public universities are graduating within a four-year period. Florida Governor Rick Scott has expressed his disapproval with these numbers and is pushing for more college students to graduate on time.
The governor’s “Degrees to Jobs” summit commences Wednesday in Orlando, and was developed “to help students get out of school sooner,” according to the Tamba Bay Times.
In order to fulfill the four-year plan, Scott recently attempted to expand the state’s Bright Futures scholarship to include summer courses, however his proposal was denied by the Florida Legislature. Additionally, the governor is striving for universities to drop the extra fees that come with registering for online classes to make online education more affordable.
Chris Denhart of Forbes analyzed the growing fifth- year trend. “More and more students are taking five years to complete what have historically been four-year programs,” he wrote. “This gap is especially noticeable in public schools. The result: extra year of costs, plus a year of wages and on-the-job experience lost.”
Denhart provides an interesting perspective, as the trend grows increasingly more common in larger universities, the additional year of schooling further delays young adults from entering the workforce.
Scott’s initiatives, although limited to the state of Florida, may begin to spark national attention, as taking a “victory lap” has become normal for students, especially those who attend public schools.
