Apodaca: Clock is ticking on high school seniors

It’s crunch time for high school seniors. If they haven’t yet decided on their post-graduation plans, the clock is ticking loudly.

Many colleges expect to know by May 1 if accepted students plan to attend.

Not that these students, or their parents, need reminding. They’ve spent the last several months –– strike that, years –– preparing for this moment. Most kids probably want to put the world on notice to stop asking them about their college plans since all the chatter is just adding to their stress levels.

But at the risk of further jangling nerves, I’d like to inject a few words of caution into the mix. Not to be alarmist, but the decisions these soon-to-be graduates make now about the next step in their lives can be crucial.

The trouble is, many of them make their decisions for the wrong reasons.

I’ll return to that point later, but first we must acknowledge that college completion rates are not so great.

Consider that the share of U.S. students who entered college in 2010 and graduated within six years was just 54.8%. Granted, that percentage is slightly better than for those students who started college in 2008 and 2009, when we were in the midst of the Great Recession and many families were struggling financially.

But even though the completion rate has ticked up, and many education experts expect it to continue inching higher if the economy cooperates, it’s still nowhere near where it should be.

Even a 60% rate would mean that 4 in 10 students won’t get their degrees in six years. And nearly a third of all college and university students drop out after their freshman year. That’s nowhere near where we want to be.

So what’s the problem?

There are many credible reasons offered for the low graduation rate. One glaringly obvious issue is the financial burden, which many students and their families find too onerous, even with assistance in the form of scholarships and loans. Some students choose to take time off to join the workforce and never go back.

Another big reason for the high dropout rates –– no surprise here — is academic failure. Many students enter college unprepared for the rigor and competition, and quickly become overwhelmed or disillusioned.

It’s been suggested that one key factor behind academic failure is that today’s students are deficient in studying skills. For some, the issue is as straightforward as too much partying. Once these students fall behind, they often find it impossible to catch up.

Yet another frequently cited reason behind the college dropout rate is a general lack of direction. Some students struggle to fit in, settle on a major and figure out what they hope to accomplish with their studies. As they flounder, they find it harder to justify the effort and expense of continuing toward a degree for which they feel little affinity.

It’s all frustrating, particularly since we like to think of the college experience as a unique and wonderful time. For many of our kids, that turns out to be true. But that it doesn’t turn out to be so for too many young people is an issue we really need to think long and hard about. How can we help more students successfully complete their college studies?

Here’s where I return to my previous comment, that some students make their college choices for the wrong reasons.

Parents, this is where you come in. You’ve done a great job so far helping your child through this process. You’ve gone to the college fairs, listened to counselors, heard the advice of admissions representatives, taken your students on campus tours, and pored over books and websites. You are the ultimate expert on what’s best for your kid.

But some parents –– not all, but certainly more than a few –– get so involved in their children’s college application drama that they begin to lose sight of what is ultimately the most important question of all during this process: What path will most likely lead to success and fulfillment over the long run?

It’s not which school is the most prestigious. It’s not necessarily the one with a program in a field that’s currently hiring, or in the field in which the parent has prospered. And it might not be the parent’s alma mater, or the university that Mom and Dad like the most, or the one with the shiny new facilities.

It’s almost impossibly tempting at this point for parents to push their kids toward the answers that they believe are the correct ones. They certainly have a right to some input –– after all, most parents foot all or most of the tuition bill.

If they really want to help their kids, however, this is the moment for parents to take a giant step back and remember the one key piece of advice they have no doubt heard many times over the years: Students shouldn’t chose the “best” school, they should chose the one that’s best for them.

Whether it’s a big state school or a small private institution, an elite out-of-state university or a local community college, students’ best chances for success and happiness rest largely on whether they feel as if they’re in an environment that suits them. That’s the “good fit” factor, and it’s the right reason for making this big decision.

PATRICE APODACA is a former Newport-Mesa public school parent and former Los Angeles Times staff writer. She lives in Newport Beach.