Online Drop-Outs: Don't Become a Statistic!

Whether you're pursuing an online degree in accounting or have signed up for an online program in veterinary technology; the college drop-out rate for those attending college online affects all courses of study and degree programs.

To make matters worse, when becoming a college drop-out, many of these online students have already racked up considerable costs. They also have little to show for these expenses and have added online learning to the list of things attempted and failed.

Debbie Cavalier⁽¹⁾ reveals that 47% of students find reasons for dropping out of online education before they even make it through one course; this usually occurs within the first three months of their studies. Would you believe that there are three, main reasons for the online college drop out-rate? All of these reasons could apply to you and can be easily avoided.

Bright Hub’s own Akili Amina wrote an article entitled Useful Quick-Tips When Taking Online Courses. In a nutshell, it spells out a four-step approach to becoming a successful online learner. If you are a student diligent about your online studies, drop-out dangers generally may not apply to you, as you have most likely committed to implementing each one of these tips and are willing to go even further to make your online learning experience a resounding success.

Unfortunately, there are those students that drop out o online college early due factors like these:

1. Personal commitments
2. Financial problems
3. Poor choice of an online program or course

One of the reasons why students drop out of online college in the early months of a program is the clash of personal commitments versus the perceived amount of time needed to study, prepare assignments, and interact online with peers and instructors. Debbie Cavalier refers to it as “life events” and assigns a 32% causation rate.

During the honeymoon period of online learning, it seems easy to forego sleep for an additional three hours a night to make it happen, but sleep deprivation sets in quickly. Before long the idea of attending college – online or in person – no longer sounds like such a great idea.

If you have an active social life, a host of familial obligations, a high pressure job, or tend to be involved in a lot of volunteer causes, you can avoid becoming a college drop out simply by enlisting support from friends, institutions, and family members. Do your homework with the kids when they are doing theirs; rely on mobile applications for distance learning to make the most of lag time, and work out a plan with your employer to allow for some reasonable schedule accommodations.

Most importantly, learn to sometimes say no, and at other times it is perfectly fine to just delegate a task rather than undertake it yourself. You may be surprised to learn that friends and family members, and perhaps even bosses, like to be part of your success story! Prevent life events – foreseeable and unscheduled – from eroding your commitment to your distance learning.

There is a good chance that in the past you have dabbled with college – online or at a brick and mortar college – and perhaps you dropped out. All that is left is student debt. Add this to other consumer debt, and before long you may find that adding additional debt – online learning can be a costly proposition – is causing you to question your resolve and decision to enroll in an online school.The question, "Why students drop out of online college", frequently finds a resounding response at this juncture.

Making matters worse, family members may also comment on their doubts about you pursuing a program while bills are piling up. Since school work will make overtime or a second job an unlikely proposition, you may be tempted to see your financial problems as a reason for dropping out of your online school.

Protect yourself against becoming a part of the drop out rate statistic by recognizing that your entrance into online learning holds the key for future stability. In the short run, there are some financial sacrifices, but in the long run, the advantages are undeniable. Privately contact your online learning instructor and ask for a bit of help -- early on in the course. Ask to be teamed up on the peer level with a successful online learner who can help you stay on task, properly apportion your time, get help with budgeting through grants and loans, and also try to stay motivated.

An advanced degree in math sounds prestigious and you would love to have a mathematical mind, but if you are the quintessential artist who cares little for trigonometry and associated mathematical equations, you will find early on in your online learning experience that you are mismatched with your course of choice. This is the easiest pitfall to avoid. Prior to actually enrolling in an online learning program, ask to audit a course. Students who take the time to carefully pick and choose majors and minors, are more likely to avoid becoming part of the college drop-out rate.

Quite a few online institutions allow you to audit courses without a fee or at a much reduced cost. This is possibly the best way of ensuring that you are on the right track with your online education goal and can greatly reduce your risk of becoming one of the group of students who drops out of online college.