Too much work, too little time to juggle school and a career, Gabriel Shamiya dropped out of Skyline College after attending for only one semester, and attempting to go back for a second.

He felt that work was his priority, and school was not right for him at this point in his life. Dropping out was his only option.

Although attrition rates at Skyline College are currently above state average, withdrawal, dropouts, and absenteeism seem to be problems at Skyline, leaving students and teachers with mixed emotions on the topic of student priorities.

Attrition rates at Skyline have been steadily increasing in the past five years. “There are two ways in which we regularly measure and track attrition,” says Cathy Hasson, director of the Office of Planning, Research, and Institutional Effectiveness. “The first is through what is referred to as Retention Rates.”

Retention Rates, which measure the percentage of students who were enrolled in a course on census date and stayed through the end of the term, have been pretty high in the past five years, and are still steadily increasing. From 2001 to today, the rates have remained steady at 83 percent in 2001 to about 85 percent in 2006. That is higher than most colleges in California which were rated at an average of 63.3 percent in 2003.

“The other way in which we measure attrition is referred to as persistence rates,” says Hasson.

The persistence rates, which measure students persisting or continuing from one term to the next, have also been increasing at Skyline College. They have increased from 60.1 percent in the fall 2001 semester to 65.1 in the fall 2005 semester.

“All told,” says Hasson, “At least from a statistical point of view, the Skyline College students are completing their courses and well over half continue from one semester to the next.”

Along with attrition, absenteeism tends to be a problem for Skyline College students.

“I think it [absenteeism] has a possibility [of affecting students grades] in that frustration level for the teacher gets so high they might lower their standards to try to keep some people in,” says Rick Hough, Skyline college math professor. “But that increases the grades of some of the other people in the class.”

Terry Li, Skyline College student majoring in Nursing, thinks that there is no excuse for some students to be absent as often as they are.

“Most people I know who have full-time jobs or part-time jobs still come to class,” says Li. “I think it’s just a question of time management.”

Often times, students find themselves being frequently absent or dropping out due to issues that they are dealing with outside of school.

Gabriel Shamiya, a former student of Skyline College, says that he was surprised at the number of absences he noticed in his classes.

Like many other students at Skyline, Shamiya dropped out due to personal issues that he was dealing with at home. He attended Skyline during the fall of 2006, enrolled for the Spring Semester of 2007, but then dropped out because he felt that work was more important for that time in his life.

“When I started, my class was packed,” says Shamiya. “People were sitting on the floor, but as the year went on, more and more kids stopped showing up. But I do understand that school is time consuming so it is understandable for some to leave the class.”

“I know that school is important,” says Shamiya. “But I decided that work is more important at this time. I have other obligations that I need to take care of. I was not able to handle everything and that is why I dropped out.”

Skyline is not the only college that has frequent dropouts. California community colleges have an average of 50 percent first-year freshmen drop out within their first year.

To help prevent dropout rates in all of California’s community colleges, USA Funds (a country-wide education loan guarantor) has given the community colleges’ Chancellor’s Office a $103,000 grant. The grant will be given to all of the 110 California community colleges. The point of the grant is to be sure that basic-skilled students can excel in the community college system.

Also to try to keep students from dropping out, biology professor Christine Case says that instructors often try different mechanisms such as giving spot quizzes and taking roll.

Although some students have justifiable reasons for dropping out of Skyline, many students think it is unacceptable.

“Dropping out completely is not acceptable,” says Nicolai Ahrens, Skyline College student. “There’s a time where you maybe just need to say ‘I need a year off ‘.”

Like dropping out, withdrawing from classes has become a problem at Skyline College. It became so common for students to withdraw from classes and then re-take them that the SMCCCD board of trustees had to enforce a policy stating that students are only allowed to re-take classes a total of three times in their time at school.

Some students, like Shamiya, feel that it is necessary to have withdrawing as an option.

“If students feel like they can’t handle it, it’s their decision,” says Shamiya. “Withdrawing is a great tool because if a student doesn’t have the time to dedicate for the class they shouldn’t be punished for that. I had a great teacher who was willing to work with me but I felt like I was alone in that class because everyone knew more then me.”

Many students turn to withdrawing or dropping out of Skyline because they are afraid to ask for or get help. There are so many resources that are there to help students succeed in their academic courses, but many students don’t take advantage of these sources. Only 60 percent of students access one or more services in the Learning Center every year.

Luciana Castro, professor of Spanish at Skyline College says that professors at Skyline are always willing to help students who are willing to make an effort to succeed.

There are many other resources available for students who fear that they might need to drop out or withdraw, such as speaking privately with a professor or speaking with a councilor. These resources are located all over Skyline’s campus.

“Staying in school is gaining the knowledge. It’s learning; there’s a sense of self pride,” says Nicolai Ahren. “We expect something out of ourselves, it’s presentation.”