Page 120 - Crisis in Higher Education

92 • Crisis in Higher Education

The following bullet points examine the impact of root cause 9, “Lack
of Student Preparation,” on the underlying problems listed in Table 4.3.

• Problem 1. Cost increases: A lack of student preparation can lead to
additional coursework, which drives up costs. For example, students
seeking an engineering degree, who take only three years of high
school mathematics, must take at least one additional math course
in college for which they earn no credit toward graduation. Students
who fail courses because high schools did not prepare them properly
must retake the course, which means they pay tuition a second time.
• Problem 2. Quality decreases: When students are not fully prepared,
they may pass the course but they do not learn all they should have,
so their education and job opportunities may suffer.
• Problem 3. Access decreases: High school dropouts have no access.
Ill-prepared high school graduates may not choose college because
it seems too difficult.
• Problem 4. Graduation rate decreases: Poorly prepared high school
graduates are more likely to fail courses and drop out.
• Problem 5. Completion time increases: When students have to take
remedial courses and repeat courses they fail, it takes them longer
to graduate.
• Problem 6. Job placement decreases: Graduates who have not learned
as much as they should have in college because they were poorly pre-
pared in high school may not find employment. If they find jobs,
their compensation is likely to be low.

4.12 SUMMARY

A thorough understanding of Table 4.3 implies that a solution must con-
sider (1) the interconnected nature of the underlying problems (rows) and
(2) the interconnected nature of the root causes (columns). The following
examples illustrate these points.

1. Interrelated underlying problems: When cost is high, access and
graduation rate decline, while completion time increases.
2. Interrelated root causes: When there is confusion about customers,
poor decisions are made about resources allocation, leading to